Falling For You
by canwenotlogan
Summary: Jessica Collins is an average girl. Well, okay, maybe she gets above average grades. And maybe she has 'below average' social skills. But generally, she's average. But what happens when an average girl like Jess meets four guys who all want to show her that she's not as average as she feels? BTR before the band. No fame, just them.
1. Knocked Me Down

**Okay guys, I'm having a bit of writer's block with my other story so I've started another one so I can do them both. I hope you enjoy this. And please review!**

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Jess woke up to the sound of her alarm clock and it took her several attempts to shut it up. After knocking her lamp, photo and phone onto the floor, she succeeded and rolled back on to her back. She sighed and closed her eyes again. Who would it hurt if she laid in bed for an extra five minutes?

Jessica Collins was an average girl. Well, okay, maybe she got above average grades. And maybe she had 'below average' social skills. But generally, she was average. Jess never tried to stand out from the crowd. She would just walk by with everyone else, blending into the background.

It was safe to say that Jess felt like there was something missing in her life. She had a family, she had food, she had clothes... and yet she didn't have any true friends. The social side of Jess' life wasn't as amazing as she wanted it to be. No parties, no shopping trips, no random trips to the cinema. Once upon a time, Jess had a very very _very _close friend: Ally. But when Ally and her family moved to England when they were thirteen, Jess was left with no other friends.

Once Ally had left, it was hard for Jess to make new friends. Everyone else was already in their little cliques. No one really accepted her into their group, leaving her on her own. But Jess didn't mind _too _much. She spoke to Ally every day – every evening at 8. _That reminds me_, Jess thought, _I need to ask mum if I can go out at 7 to the new studio across the street!_

When she finally forced herself to get up, Jess walked towards the bathroom and showered. She washed her troubles away and tried to forget the fact that she still had the rest of the week to go before the weekend. She chucked on some leggings and a denim shirt, scraping her hair back into a messy bun. "Mum, I'm going to school!" she shouted as she grabbed her bag.

"What about breakfast?" her mum asked her, walking from the kitchen to the hall. She raised her eyebrows at her daughter. "Don't you want to eat with me?"

Jess laughed. "Mum, of course I want to eat with you, but I can't. Do you want me to be late for school?" she asked.

"Hmm, I suppose not." Her mum chuckled. "Text me when you get home." She kissed her daughter on the cheek.

"Will do!" Jess shouted back as she stepped outside, closing the door quietly behind her.

She then turned around and walked back into the house, "Before I forget, there's a new studio just opened in town and I need some exercise, so can I go at 7?"

Her mum nodded and Jess finally left the house.

She started walking the normal path to school. She enjoyed her morning and evening walk, she liked to listen to music and daydream about nothing in particular. She looked across the street to an old couple shuffling along together. She 'awwwww'ed in her head at their cuteness. They were laughing and sharing a muffin. She smiled and continued her walk.

When she arrived at school, Jess headed towards her locker. She took out a couple of books and looked at herself in the mirror on the inside of the locker door. In her hurry to get ready, she had completely forgotten to put any make-up on. She grabbed some mascara and eyeliner and applied them to her eyes. Satisfied, she closed her locker and headed off to her history class.

Once she was seated, she got out her books and took out her earphones. It was that exact moment that Mr Harvey walked into the classroom. "Jess, phone." He said.

"But –"

"You should not have your phone out in my classroom. No buts!" Mr Harvey interrupted.

Jess sighed and handed her phone over, making sure to turn it off first. She hated to think that Mr Harvey could go through her phone while he had it. She knew he probably wouldn't but she was still conscious of the fact that he could be a ridiculous perv and want to go through her pictures and what not.

Just then, four boys came running down the corridor at lightning speed, being way louder than they should've been. They were shouting and joking around, but they all skidded to a halt in front of Mr Harvey's classroom.

"Er, hi sir. Sorry we're late." said the one standing at the front. He seemed to be slightly panicky at the idea of being late to a class, but he tried his best to keep his cool. Jess thought he looked kind of cute (you know the type): brown hair, brown eyes, great clothes... The boy turned to look at the class and caught Jess staring at him. He gave her a smile, showing off his dimples. _That would be another thing to add to the list_, Jess thought.

"Yeah, car broke down, won't happen again." another one said quickly, walking in and taking one of the empty seats. He was really tall and Jess couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by him. He looked friendly enough though. He sat down next to one of the cheerleaders who must have been saving him a seat. She smiled flirtatiously up at him and the guy quickly got a comb out from his back pocket and smoothed down his already perfect hair.

The dimples one went and sat in front of him, next to one of the nerds. The nerd shuffled away from him slightly and made sure his desk was straight. The dimples guy laughed at his awkwardness and smiled at him in a friendly way. Jess found this sweet and she summed up that he must be a nice guy.

A third friend walked in. He was the smallest of the four and Jess thought that he was probably Hispanic or Latino. She admitted to herself that he was also kind of cute, like the other two. He sat next to the class suck-up, right at the front. She squealed out a hi and started blabbering on in an annoyingly high-pitched voice. The latino grimaced and looked back to see his other two friends quietly laughing at him.

Finally, their fourth friend walked in. Jess hadn't really been able to see him before as he was standing behind his other friends. He walked into the classroom and Jess gave him a once over in her head: blonde, nicely dressed, smiling, and dark eyebrows. She thought that he was also probably fit, but she couldn't see his abs underneath his t-shirt.

He glanced across the classroom and found the only other spare seat, and lucky for Jess, it was next to her. She took her bag off of the seat next to her and chucked it onto the ground beneath her desk. He slid onto the chair next to her and smiled. "Hey," he said.

"Hi," Jess said back. _Hi. Hi? Was that the best thing I can say? No one ever usually sat next to me! Then when one guy does, all I can say his hi?!_, she inwardly shouted at herself.

He flashed her a smile before saying, "I'm Kendall."

"Jess." She said, smiling back at him.

"Ah, Jess. Is that short for Jessie or...?" he asked.

"It's short for Jessica." She said, "But I hate that name so I don't use it very often." Jess didn't know why she was telling this to Kendall. Maybe because he was the first person to have sat next to her in a while and she was all excited. _I'm probably boring him with my life already_, she thought.

"Well, I like it. But, I'll call you Jess, if that's what you want?" he questioned her. _He'll call me Jess if that's what I want?! Is this guy suggesting that he's gonna start talking to me more often? Er..._

"Whichever you like best." Jess shrugged. This Kendall guy seemed alright, and Jess started to relax. She leaned back slightly on her chair to listen to Mr Harvey.

After a little while, Jess felt her eyelids slowly closing. History first thing on a Monday morning was enough to send anyone to sleep. Mr Harvey was never usually one to worry about students falling asleep or doodling or whatever, as long as they weren't distracting anyone else. Normally, Mr Harvey was actually a pretty cool teacher, it was just a shame that he happened to teach history.

When the lesson was over, Jess quickly said goodbye to Kendall and headed towards her locker. She put her history book back, swapping it for her french one. She stuffed it into her bag and looked back into her locker mirror. She rearranged a couple of a hair pins. Pleased that her hair was still perfectly messy, she closed a locker door and turned around, only to jump out of skin when she saw Kendall leaning against the locker next to hers. "Oh my god, you scared me!" she told him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," he said, pulling himself off of the lockers, "So, what class have you got next?"

_Why is he paying so much attention to me?_, Jess thought to herself, _He's never spoken to me before and suddenly he's waiting for me by my locker? And all because his car broke down?_

Guys never usually waited for Jess after history. Or any class actually. In fact, guys never paid her any attention full stop. Generally, Jess kept her head down at school and avoided talking to people. Whenever she made friends, she would fall out with them after a month and then they would start to ignore her or call her names. She never had 'social luck'. So when she saw Kendall, she was really surprised.

"Er, Jess?" Kendall said, waving his hands in front of her face.

Jess' brain snapped back to attention and she stammered, "Er, sorry, err... French."

"Aw, cool. So have I. You wanna sit with me?" he asked her.

Jess looked at him in shock. Why was he asking her to sit with him? "I, err..."

"Great! See you in class!" he shouted as he walked away.

* * *

Jess spent the rest of the day sitting with Kendall. It seemed that he had almost all his lessons with her. She wondered how come she had never noticed him before, and how come he had never noticed her? She never did get to find out who his friends were as he didn't sit with them, apart from when he disappeared off to see them at lunch.

Walking down the usual path that took her home, Jess got out her earphones to do her usual evening ritual of listening to music. It was then that she realised. _Mr Harvey still has my phone!_

Jess turned quickly on her heels and marched straight back to school. She pushed open the big double doors at the main entrance and found her way to Mr Harvey's classroom. She opened the door and saw him sittin at his desk, marking papers.

"Ah, Miss Collins, come in." He said, as she entered the room cautiously.

She walked over to stand in front of his desk. "I presume you wanted this." He said, as he handed over her phone, "Have a good evening Jess."

"Thank you sir." Jess mumbled quickly as she left the room. Jess scurried down the hallway. She needed to get home before her mum as she'd be wondering where on earth her daughter had got to.

It was when Jess was walking along the corridor towards the main entrance that something came charging into her and knocked her onto the hard floor. Jess stayed on the floor, clutching her head and wondering what had pushed her over so forcefully. Her eyes were closed tightly with pain and she couldn't see anything that was going on. Suddenly, she felt someone lean over her.

"Carlos, you just knocked someone over! I keep telling you not to run in the corridor because someone will get hurt, but do you listen? No!" she heard a voice yell. They were right up close to her and their loud voice made her head feel worse.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know that there would be someone walking down here! I thought everyone had gone home!" another voice shouted back. Jess heard some shuffling and felt that someone else was also now leaning over her. "Is she okay?" the voice continued.

"I don't know," the first voice replied, "I think she's unconscious."

"No I'm not," Jess half-whispered back to the voice, "My head just really hurts."

"She's alive!" a third voice shouted. Jess squinted to see that the guy who owned that voice had thrown his arms up into the air in mock celebration. That's when she saw Kendall walking over with a look of concern.

"Guys, what happened –" Kendall began but he cut himself off when he recognised the person laying on the floor. "Jess?"

"Dude, do you know her?" one of them asked. Jess looked over to see one of Kendall's friends from earlier.

Kendall ignored him. "Jess? Are you alright?"

"Er..." Jess started, trying to get up. She got herself into a sitting position but she quickly brought her hand back up to hold her head, "I guess I could be better."

"Here let me help you." One of Kendall's friends said, holding out his hand. Jess recognised him as the one with dimples from earlier. She attempted to smile at him as he pulled her up.

"Thanks." She said.

Meanwhile, James had been staring absent-mindedly at a poster on the wall. When Jess stood up, however, he turned around and walked slowly towards her.

"Well, hello." He said, grinning and showing off his teeth, "I'm James. And you are?"

"I'm Jess." She quickly said, looking down at her shoes.

"Oooh, so you're the Jess that Kendall hasn't stopped talking about yet? It's nice to finally meet you." He laughed.

Kendall gave him a glare to end all glares. If looks could kill, eesh! Kendall walked over to stand beside James. "Jess, these are the guys who are supposedly my friends. Er, Logan," he said, pointing at the dimples guy. Jess looked at him and found herself still thinking he was cute.

"James, who I guess you've just met," he continued, pointing at his friend.

"And this is Carlos, who I think owes you an apology." Kendall looked at him with his eyebrows raised.

Carlos walked forward, towards where Jess was standing, "I am _so _sorry. I don't know why I ran into you! Usually, when I see a pretty girl, I stop dead still, but I guess today that wasn't the case."

Jess blushed a deep red.

"I was probably thinking about the ice cream waiting for me at home to be honest. I was in a rush to get there first. I'm sorry I knocked you over."

"Oh, it's okay." Jess smiled shyly up at him, "No one got hurt so there's no need to worry about it."

Carlos smiled back at her, "Okay, you know what? Since I knocked you over, I feel that it is my duty to at least give you a ride home." He said to her.

"Er, dude," James interrupted, "It's my car."

Carlos ignored him, "So, what do you say? Fancy a ride?"

"I thought your car broke down this morning?" Jess stared up at Carlos.

He laughed, "No, we just needed an excuse."

"Oh, well in that case, yeah sure." Jess said as she began walking out of the door. Carlos draped an arm around her shoulder as they walked down the grey school steps.

"Yeah! I've been looking forward to seeing you again since our last class!" Kendall said; as he draped an arm around her (as well as glaring harshly at Carlos) in an attempt to impress her more than he had.

_Carlos just knocked her over and now she's blushing?_, Kendall thought. _ Dude's got skills and he doesn't even realise it. What the hell? _He then began to daydream about Jess and how long it would take for her to fall for him.

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**Well, I hope you like this. I'm going to try and update my stories more often, it being the Christmas holidays and all that. Please review!**

**Review question: Do you prefer stories about BTR before the band, or while they're famous?**

**Lots of love, PerfectPiranha**


	2. Something You're Not Telling Us?

**Hey, so yeah. Quite a few people have liked this so I decided to continue with it, I hope you like it!**

** - I'm glad you do. Star197- Hmm, but will she end up with Carlos though? You'll have to wait and see ;) SuperSillyStories- Yeah, I know, Carlos is adorable like that. And of course James was going to show of that smile, we all knew he would! Yes, Kendall has lazer's in his eyes that kill on his command, haha.**

**So, without further ado, her is chapter 2!**

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Stepping into school the next day, Jess looked around. She was kind of hoping she might bump into one of the guys again. She found them all really sweet, especially when they took care of her the day before.

After they had left the school for the day, the guys (and Jess) had clambered into James' car and driven to her house. She had thanked them and politely invited them in. They said they all had to get home so Jess just agreed. But, before they drove away, they did mention something about 'seeing you tomorrow'.

Jess had become increasingly excited as the evening went on. She tried to watch Pretty Little Liars, but she couldn't concentrate on what anyone was saying. When she eventually fell asleep, she dreamt of what might happen the next day. What? Don't judge her! Would you be excited if four cute guys like that said 'see you tomorrow'? Yeah, that's what I thought.

As Jess looked around, she thankfully spotted dimples – sorry, Logan – leaning against some lockers near the door. He saw her and caught her eye. He smiled at her invitingly and gestured her over.

"Hey," he said, "You look nice today."

Jess blushed but managed to smile back at him. She was wearing some pink tie-dye shorts and a guns and roses t-shirt. It wasn't her best outfit of choice, but oh well. She did, however, leave her hair down. She never normally did this, only on rare occasions – special occasions I might add. And in Jess' mind, this was deemed as a special occasion. She had let her hair fall loosely down her back. Her hair wasn't _extremely _long; her hair was just the right length (in her opinion anyway). She had braided her hair before she went to sleep so it was wavy too. She had gotten up slightly earlier to do her make-up and even she thought she looked good. She would've been more surprised if he hadn't of said anything!

"Well thanks, Logan. That's a really sweet thing for you to say." She then looked around, "Where are the others?"

Now, undetected by Jess, Logan had been staring at her. He wasn't joking when he said she looked nice. She _really_ did. But, of course, Jess was oblivious to this. When she started talking, he quickly said, "What?" followed by, "Oh, right." And then "They're on their way."

"Oh, did you not get a ride with them then this morning?" Jess asked him.

"Er, no, my mom insisted on driving me to school." He admitted, looking at his feet, "She said something, um," he then said, looking at Jess nervously, "About missing the school run?" His supposedly 'funny' remark came out as more of a question and Logan found himself wishing he hadn't of said that.

"So, um," Jess started as she tried to change the subject, "I never did get to ask, what were you guys doing her after school anyway?"

"Oh, the guys and I, we play hockey. We had practise after school. It's on every Monday and Thursday actually."

"Cool," Jess said, "Do you have any games coming up?"

"Yeah, actually, we do. Nothing major but there is one soon. I'll let you know about it nearer the time." He said. "That is, if you want to come?"

Jess could see the affect she was having on Logan's nerves. She then began to wonder. _Is he like this around all girls? _She then said, "Of course I'd want to come! I couldn't miss out on that now, could I?"

She could see Logan visibly relax a little bit. He then waved to someone (or something) behind her. "Hey guys, where's Carlos?"

"Hey Jess, hey Logan. Carlos is now on his way, I think." Kendall said.

"Hey Logan, 'sup man?" James said.

"Nothing much really, just hanging here with Jess." He answered.

"Oh really?" he said, staring at Logan with wide eyes. "And what were you two talking about? If Logan did anything to offend you, then I am _so_ sorry."

"You know what? I need to go to my locker anyways." Jess said as she began to walk away. "I'll catch up with you later after math."

"Er, yeah." Logan said awkwardly. He gave her a small wave as she turned around and walked away. See, Logan wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he kind of liked Jess. A little bit anyway. She'd turned out to be really nice. And according to Kendall, she was actually quite funny. And no one could forget how hot she was, of course.

"Logan! You're staring." A voice whispered harshly into his ear. Logan spun around to see Kendall looking at him with his eyebrow raised. He then said, in a louder voice, "Is there something you're not telling us?"

"No. Er. What? What are you talking about?" Logan stammered. _Oh no_, he thought, _what do I say? I can't tell them that I have a crush on her! I'm not even sure if I do or not yet!_ He then began to think about Jess. He hadn't even known her for 12 hours but when she looked at him that afternoon after Carlos had knocked her over, he had fallen for her eyes. Her eyes were green like the grass. Green as the leaves on the trees. Green as sharpie pen he kept in his bag. They were beautiful. And it was then, at that moment when she looked him in the eye, that he felt sparks and knew that she was going to be special.

Logan had only zoned out for a second but he quickly came around when a voice said from behind them, "Yeah, what are you talking about?" Carlos had come in not too long ago and he was wondering what the hell they were talking about.

"Nothing." Logan said quickly.

"Oh, right. "Anyway guys, great news," Carlos said before anyone else could get a word in edge-wise, "I was thinking about a lot last night and I came up with an idea."

"Wait, _you_ had an idea?" James laughed.

"Hey! Don't be mean!" he said, "Anyway, I've decided..."

"Yes?" Kendall asked.

"Spit it out, man!" James said.

"I think I might like Jess." He said quickly, mumbling to himself.

"Dude, we can't hear you." Kendall said.

"I said," Carlos gulped, "I like Jess."

"WHAT?" Logan said. Several people turned around to look at what was going on.

"Dude, ssh." Kendall said. "We'll talk about this later.

* * *

Later that same day, the guys were all crowded around the coffee table in the middle of Kendall's living room. They had decided to talk about Jess later that day, in a place where no one would over hear their conversation – especially Jess.

"So, you er, you like Jess?" Kendall said.

"Well, yeah," Carlos replied, "I mean, she's really pretty. And she seems great. I'd just like to get to know her better."

"Oh, well, okay." Kendall said.

"Why?" Carlos said suspiciously, "Is there something you're not telling us?"

"Erm," Kendall began, "See, I kind of like Jess too."

"Oh." Logan said, "Really?"

Things were getting awkward. And they were getting awkward quickly at that.

"Well yeah, I got the same reasons as Carlos. Plus, she's really funny and I liked sitting next to her _all day_ yesterday."

"All day huh?" Logan asked.

"Yeah," Kendall said, "Why, are you jealous?"

James shook his head. He could sense that his friends were going to fight over this girl. And it was a shame really. He actually thought she was really hot, and he wanted to take her out._ Damn it_, he thought, _I was getting to like her as well._

"I'm not jealous!" Logan said in defence, "You just reminded me about the conversation I had with her this morning?" He smirked.

"Oh yeah?" James butted in, "And what was that conversation about anyway?"

"Oh, you know," he smiled, "She said she thought I looked nice." Now this, of course, wasn't exactly true. Jess never said this, but Logan was sure that she was thinking it.

"Hmm, I see." James said back.

The guys all glared at each other for a moment. They could all tell that they all liked the same girl. Now, it was a race to say one little word...

"DIBS!" they all shouted.

"I SAID IT FIRST!" Carlos said, standing up.

"DID NOT!" Logan shouted.

"YES I DID! Carlos shouted back.

"YEAH? WELL I SAW HER FIRST!" Kendall said, jumping up from his seat. Then, all hell broke loose as Carlos, Logan and Kendall all shouted and started chasing each shouting "SHE'S MINE!" and "DIBS!" at the top of their voice.

"Guys." James said. The guys continued to run around like mad-men.

"Guys!" James said again. Still nothing.

"GUYS!" James shouted through the noise, but his voice was drowned out by their own voices. He then looked across at the coffee table. He picked up Kendall's whistle and blew it as loud as he could. All three guys immediately stopped what they were doing and turned around to face him. "We are not going to solve anything by chasing each other and shouting dibs, okay?"

Kendall sighed, "I hate to say this, but he's right." The others nodded and the three of them came back to sit on the couch.

"So, what are we going to do?" Logan asked, "We can't all have her."

"Can't we?" Carlos asked. The others gave him a look and he sank back down in his seat.

"Well, since we can't decide amongst ourselves, we'll let Jess decide." James said, proud that he had come up with a good idea.

"Okay, but how does that work?" Kendall questioned him.

"Well, whichever one of us she _kisses _first, gets to date her." James said.

"Okay, I like this." Logan said, "But should we have rules of the game?"

"Oh man, I hate rules." Carlos said under his breath. The guys chose to ignore him.

"Okay, er, rule one: it has to be lips to lips." Kendall said.

"Erm, rule two: we can't kiss her first." James said.

"And rule three: we can't tell her about this whole 'game' or conversation. Agreed?" Logan did little speech marks with his hands when he said the word game. He looked around at the guys. They all nodded.

"Agreed."

* * *

**So there you go, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! As always, please review!**


	3. Getting To Know Jess

**Okay, I've been quite stuck for what to write and this chapter is kind of a filler. I hope you like it!**

**Star197- Ha, I see you've chosen your team ;) SuperSillyStories- Yeah, of couse they'd all shout dibs! ANd yes, how typical of them to all have a bit of a thing for her. Keep tuning in to find out what they get up to!**

**Please read and review!**

* * *

Carlos walked into his English classroom and looked around. He saw that James had reserved their usual seats. Carlos and James had their English class together and they always sat in the same space: at the back by the window. They would throw paper aeroplanes, they'd watch the girls PE class from out of the window, they'd throw bits of rubber at each other... English was their 'mess around' class.

"Hey James," he said as he walked over. James looked up and smiled.

"Hey Carlos," James said as Carlos sat down in the seat next to him. "So, have you got any ideas for the Jess situation?"

"Well, yeah," Carlos said as he got his books out from his bag. But in truth, Carlos had no idea how to get Jess to kiss him. And he _really_ needed an idea so that she would kiss him before the others got to her. He was really starting to like Jess. He didn't know why, it was just something about her...

"Really? Cool, me too." James replied. He then glanced out of the window for a second before grinning like an idiotic Cheshire cat. He turned back to look at Carlos and waggled his eyebrows.

"Take a look at who's doing PE!" he whispered to Carlos as the class started.

"Who?" Carlos asked. He leaned across James and had a look out of the window. He looked across the school field where the girls were warming up for their class. He scanned the crowd for someone he knew. He then saw a girl standing a little away from her crowded classmates. She was tying her blonde hair up into a ponytail with a purple scrunchie. Carlos then smiled as he recognised the girl as Jess.

"I didn't know she took PE! Is she a cheerleader?" Carlos asked James.

"Well, there's a lot of stuff we don't know about Jess. She might be." James replied, smiling, "I guess we'll have to watch and find out."

* * *

"Okay! We're going to perform our usual routines and we're going to perfect it. Jess, you're still on the top of the pyramid." Miss Hodgkin said. "Okay everyone! Wear your outfits!" We all headed to our locker room and changed.

"Wow, it's like I haven't been here for years." Jess muttered to herself.

"Exaggerating..." someone said in a sing-song voice.

Jess tried her very best to ignore whoever it was. She stripped off her clothes and put her cheer squad clothes on. She gave herself a quick once over in the mirror and slammed the changing room locker door shut. She then headed out to the school field and started a warm-up. She tried to stand away from the other giggling sluts so that she didn't look like she was associated with them.

"Okay, show me what you've got girls!" Miss Hodgkin shouts.

The girls all got in position and danced. Jess always really enjoyed herself when she danced. It was like she could let herself go as she moved with the music. All her anxieties and troubles would float away and she would become one with the music.

They kept on dancing until it was time to form the pyramid. Jess took a deep breath before standing at the hands of two strong guys that she didn't quite know the names of. They both tried to give her a reassuring smile before lifting her up. Jess' feet were on the shoulders of some sluts that she didn't even know (or want to know). A couple of girls cartwheeled in front of the pyramid as Jess tried her best to stand there and look pretty. Then, on cue, she let herself fall backwards and into the arms of the two strong guys from before. They smiled in a friendly way at her as she sighed deeply and stood up.

Suddenly, Miss Hodgkin blew her whistle and the cheer squad moved out from the pyramid they were previously in. They all approached her and she smiled up at them, "Very good girls! With a bit more practise, I'm sure it will be perfect!"

"Not with Jess on the top," someone mumbled under their breath. The comment was ignored by both Jess and the coach. "Great job with the catch guys."

"No problem," one of them said, "Jess is really light anyway."

Jess blushed and looked down at her feet.

"Let's go again guys! From the top!

* * *

"I didn't know you were a cheerleader." Kendall said to Jess. The guys had all met up for lunch and decided to find Jess. Normally, Jess would roam the corridors on her own at lunch and they couldn't let her do that. And so, they invited her to have lunch with them.

"Yeah, well, I only just started at the beginning of term." Jess told him. She was surprised that Kendall knew about her being a cheerleader. They hadn't performed at any games yet, so how could anyone know? The other girls on the cheer squad walked around in school team jackets and whatnot 24/7, but Jess didn't want the attention like that. Plus, she didn't want to be friends with those sluts. "But how did you find out that I was on the team?"

"Carlos and James were spying on you." Logan said quickly.

_Okay, that's sabotage_, James thought to himself, _He can't say that! Jess will get annoyed that we were watching her!_

"Oh, really?" Jess asked as she raised one eyebrow at them. Carlos and James both automatically looked down at their food and started eating manically. She laughed and went a slightly deeper shade of red. "Well, what did you think?" she asked them.

"Well, erm..." James began.

"You looked really hot." Carlos blurted out.

"And you did a really great job." James continued.

"And I didn't know you could dance!" Carlos exclaimed.

Jess giggled nervously. _Well_, she thought, _I guess that's good. At least I didn't suck._

"Alright then. So, before this conversation becomes even more awkward, I would like to invite you to go ice skating tonight. What do you say Jess?" Kendall asked.

Jess looked up; she was a little shocked at what he had said. He brain kicked into overdrive. Was he asking her out on a date? What would she wear? Would her mom let her go? What if she fell over?

"Erm, are you all going to be there?" she asked with an anxious laugh.

"Yes." Logan quickly said, before anyone else (Kendall) could get a word in. Kendall glared at him from across the table but Jess didn't notice. He then kicked Logan under the table they were sitting at. Logan yelped in surprise and kicked him back. Before long, the two of them were having a full on war underneath the table. Jess looked over at them and laughed.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked them both.

Upon hearing her say this, both boys stopped the raging war they were having with their feet and looked at her. Kendall leaned on his elbow and grinned, "Fine, couldn't be better!" he said through his teeth.

Logan gave him a small glare before saying, "Yep, perfect. Why wouldn't we be?"

Jess laughed again. "Okay, just asking." She then got up. "I'm done with lunch so I'll catch up with you later. See you all tonight?"

"Yeah," Kendall said as he waved her off.

"Guys, back off. She's mine." He said through gritted teeth, after a moment of pause.

"No. Stick to the rules." Logan said. "She hasn't kissed you."

"Speaking of the rules, what happened to them all earlier Logan? Telling Jess we were spying on her was sabotage!" James told him.

"There isn't a rule about that!" Logan said, standing up. "You know what; I'm done with lunch too." And he walked away.

* * *

Kendall drove up to Jess' house. He though that this was Jess' house anyway. He wasn't exactly concentrating the last time they'd dropped her off. He climbed out of the car and walked up to the front door. He rang the doorbell and waited patiently for Jess to open the door. After several moments, a woman with wispy blonde hair opened the door. She smiled up at Kendall.

"Hi," she said, "Can I help you?"

"I'm here to pick up Jess." Kendall replied, "Is she here?"

"Oh, no she's not in. She's at the new studio across town." The lady then turned around to look behind her. She picked up a piece of paper and a pen. She scribbled something down and handed it to Kendall. "Here's the address. I guess she forgot what time you were going to pick her up."

"Okay, thanks." Kendall said as he took the piece of paper from her, "Have a nice night Mrs Collins."

Kendall then climbed back into the car and read the address. _Well that's not too far from here_, he said to no one in particular, _it won't even take me five minutes to get there._

Kendall drove to the address on the piece of now crumpled paper. Mrs Collins had said something about a studio. But why would Jess be at a studio? And what type of studio was it? An art studio, a film studio...? He pulled into the parking lot next to a huge building. The building looked relatively new and there were people constantly walking in and out of it. _This must be it._

Walking into the building, Kendall looked around. There were people all kitted out in their work-out clothes and they were sweating. The smell was awful.

He walked to the front desk and smiled at the pretty girl behind it. "Hi," he began, "Could you tell me whereabouts my friend might be?"

"Sure, what's their name?"

"Jessica Collins." He stated.

"She's in A7. Go straight down those stairs, take a left turn and keep going down the corridor until you reach the end." She directed me.

"Okay, thanks."

Following the directions he's been told, Kendall found his way to A7. He quietly pushed open the door and peeked inside. The floor was wooden and walls were mirrored. There was a strange wooden pole running horizontally across the middle of one of the walls. And in the middle, standing on her tiptoes was Jess. She was wearing a tight black leotard and pale pink tights. Her hair was scraped back into a high bun and her eyes were closed as she listened to the music. And then, she began to dance.

Kendall watched as jumped, leapt and twirled across the room. Her movements flowed and Kendall found it quite beautiful. He stared at her, mesmerized, for the whole length of the music. When she had finished Kendall remained still, watching her.

Jess turned off the music and picked up her cardigan. She wrapped it around herself and shivered.

"That was really good by the way. I didn't know you did ballet."

Jess jumped back at the sound of his voice. She turned around and saw Kendall leaning against the door frame. Her eyes widened and the gasped. "Kendall? How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough." He said, "Now come on, the guys are waiting. Go get changed and I'll meet you out front."

With a nod of the head, Jess left the room and Kendall smiled to himself as he made his way back to his car.

* * *

**There you go, that was chapter 3. I'm sorry if there are spelling or grammar mistakes... Please review because it makes my day! :) xxxx**


	4. Nice Try

**This one should be slightly longer than the last one guys, so I hope you like it!**

**Star197- Maybe she will end up with Carlos, but maybe she won't. I guess you'll have to wait and find out! SuperSillyStories- I'm glad you loved it! Yes, i'm sure can imagine them doing all of those things. Ha, I thought the foot war was a nice touch too.**

**Thank you to: ultimate beach lover, LivingTheLifeBigTime, btrluvr8, Star197, MackenzieBATfan1, serafina67 and breighanna. heyman for all following/favouriting this story. You guys are the ones that imspire me to write more!**

**Okay guys, if you review, please let me know who you want to win! Are you Team Carlos, Team Kendall, Team Logan or Team James? The team with the most reviews will win! So please review!**

* * *

When they arrived at the ice rink the guys all skated over to Kendall and Jess. In truth, they were a little jealous that Kendall got to drive her there. Wait, why am I saying 'a little'? They were _a lot_ jealous that Kendall got to drive her there. Okay, now that doesn't even make sense.

Anyway, they saw Jess was a little bit pink in the face and they wondered if she was blushing because of Kendall. Had he already kissed her? Was the game over? They sincerely hoped not.

"Aright Jess, I'm going to go grab you some skates. You alright to hang here with the guys for a minute?" Kendall said.

"Yeah," Jess smiled at him as he walked over to the guy standing at the skate booth.

James took this as the perfect opportunity to chat her up a bit. "_So_, Jess, you're looking nice today. I love it when you tie your hair back like that." he said, flashing her that million-dollar smile.

Jess proceeded to blush harder at the comment and she looked down at the ground. "Thanks." She said quietly.

Logan furrowed his eyebrows together, "Is that Kendall's scarf?" he asked her.

Once again, Jess blushed. Nodding, she said, "And his gloves."

Carlos raised his eyebrows at Logan and he seemed to look impressed. It seemed like Kendall was winning. _If I don't do something today_, Logan thought, _Kendall's going to win for sure._ It bothered Logan a bit that he was battling against his friends over a girl. Yes, maybe they were still friends. But that was only at the moment. The guys were known for becoming very competitive, especially with their hockey background. Logan hoped that this girl didn't break up their friendship.

He looked over at James and Carlos. They were too busy talking to Jess to notice that he was thinking. Whenever Logan was quiet, it always meant he was thinking. And if they noticed that, they'd obviously know what he was thinking about. And why.

In his head, Logan was weighing out his chances with Jess. He felt a bit guilty that he was trying to steal her away from the others. But he supposed that he had a right to like Jess. James _always_ got the girl, Carlos was way too immature for a girlfriend, and Kendall only had to say the word and a girl would fall into his arms willingly. Being smart meant that people looked at Logan as a nerd. Yes, a fair share of people had bullied him because of his brains but the guys had always been there to stick up for him. So that was okay. But being seen as a nerd also meant that no girl had ever shown any interest in him. He'd never had a girlfriend. And if the guys kept trying to steal girls away from him, he'd probably never have one.

"Earth to Logan, can you hear me?" Kendall said. Logan snapped out of his trance to the realisation that everyone was staring at him.

"Yeah, sorry," Logan replied. How long had they been staring at him?

"Alright Jess, put on your skates and then we'll get going!" Kendall said as he whizzed out onto the ice.

"WOO HOO!" Carlos yelled as he skated after him, "Come on Logan!"

Logan sighed and skated after him. He was here to skate, whether he would end up kissing Jess or not. He might as well enjoy it. He skated around for a bit while Jess tied up her shoes. Carlos, Kendall and he started to play imaginary hockey. Carlos cheered as he supposedly scored a goal and they all pretended to celebrate.

_Hmm, _Logan thought to himself, _what's taking Jess so long? It shouldn't have taken her all this time to tie her shoes._ He turned to look over at Jess and the other two followed his action. To their surprise, James was sitting next to her and they were deep in conversation. She had her legs up on his lap as he tied her shoes laces. _Ha, nice try._

He skated over to where they were sitting. James had now tied her shoes and she was trying to stand up without falling over. "Jess," James said, laughing, "You're falling over and we're not even on the ice yet."

"Yeah, well these blade things are incredibly thin." She said back. Then turning to Logan, she asked, "How do you guys manage to skate on these all the time?"

"Well," Kendall began as he skated over to them, "It takes practise to make perfection. You know that."

Jess and Kendall shared a knowing look. James watched as she then looked away from his gaze. _Have I missed something?_, he asked himself. Then standing up, he said to her, "Come on Jess, I'm going to give you your first skating lesson."

James wrapped his arm around Jess' waist and led her onto the ice. She cautiously took a step forward and nearly slipped over. "It's okay!" James said encouragingly, "I've got you."

Those seemed to be the words of encouragement that Jess needed to hear as she tried again, this time staying upright. She gave James a small smile as she stepped again. James then watched in amusement as she picked up her feet and walked across the ice with him following close behind. "No," James said softly as he came up behind her again. He grabbed her gently from behind and guided her forwards. "Now," he began, "You need to _glide_ your feet across the ice. And try to make each step travel diagonally outwards."

He watched as Jess tried to do as he said but it resulted in her nearly falling again. Luckily, James still had hold of her and he didn't let her fall. Jess sighed deeply, "This is going to take a lot more practise than I thought."

"Don't worry," James said into her ear, "You'll get it." He then began skating gracefully, with his arms still wrapped around her waist. Jess relaxed a bit and let him lead her across the ice. Surprisingly, she felt safe in his arms and it didn't make her feel uncomfortable being this close to him. _He's so strong_, she thought, _and yet so gentle._

Just as she was starting to get the hang of it, Carlos came racing over. He skidded to halt in front of the pair, spraying their feet with ice. Jess laughed at this but James looked less than amused. Holding his arm out for her, Carlos asked Jess, "Would the lady care to dance?"

They both tried to keep a straight face as Jess replied, "Of course sir." In the worst English accent known to mankind.

James had no choice but to release the arm that he had around Jess' waist and he watched her grab Carlos' arm. She giggled and James felt a pang of jealousy. That was going to be his moment! And Carlos stole it away from him. As Carlos led Jess away, he casually said into James' ear, "Nice try."

A scowl slowly crept itself onto James' face. He watched as Carlos and Jess skated away together. Why did Carlos have to spoil everything? That was his one chance to talk to Jess and get to know her a little better! He might even have had the chance to kiss her. But now, Carlos had taken her away and ruined the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Carlos was oblivious to James' hurtful glares. He was rather enjoying his little dance with Jess. He had his arm wrapped around her waist whilst his other hand was in hers. They were in the typical ballroom dancing position. It was the perfect opportunity for Carlos to be especially close to her. He watched as she fluttered her eyelids slightly as she danced. He imagined that there was music playing in the background and that there was a spotlight coming down from the ceiling. As he looked at her, Carlos couldn't help but wonder what made her so pretty. Why was he so attracted to her? Was it the way her eyes sparkled when they were caught by the lights? Was it the soft pinkness of her lips or the smoothness of her skin?

Jess was silent as she danced and Carlos took this as his chance to speak to her. "So, Jess, do you like skating?"

She nodded, "Yeah, it's really relaxing,"

He nodded too, "I like to come here on my own sometimes; I like to skate around and enjoy the freedom. It's nice to feel the ice gliding beneath my feet, you know?"

Jess smiled at him. "Wow Carlos, I didn't know that you were like that. But don't you like to play hockey more?" she questioned him.

Carlos thought for a moment before saying, "I like the rush of adrenaline that I get playing hockey, but I like the alone time too. I guess that it's all about the balance."

_He's so sensitive, _Jess thought, _and he's so sweet! I thought he was this wild, crazy guy – but he's deep. I guess there's more to him than meets the eye._ Jess sighed happily as Carlos curled his fingers around hers as they skated around in circles. Then, to her surprise, he lifted her up gently to let her soar in the air before bringing her back down. He then moved his arms back to where they previously were and the continued dancing. Jess laughed, "What was that for Carlos?"

"I thought you'd like it."

"Oh, and I did." She smiled up at him. Their noses were almost touching and she could feel his breath on her face. _Yes yes yes, _Carlos thought, _I'm gonna win!_

Kendall looked over from where he was skating with Logan. He saw Carlos and Jess' intimacy and he skated over quickly. He grabbed Jess hand from around the back of Carlos and he twirled her underneath his arm. Jess was shocked to see him there so quickly but she went along with it anyway. She smiled weakly at Carlos as Kendall whisked her away to the other side of the ice rink.

"So, I know you're a dancer." Kendall said to her confidently, "But how would you like to dance on ice?"

Smiling up at him, Jess said, "That sounds wonderful."

Kendall then let go of her hand and nudged her forward slightly. Jess took a deep breath and then began to perform the same routine that Kendall had watched her do not so long ago. As he watched her, Kendal thought, _Yes, Carlos might be able to dance with her, but I bet she likes the freedom much more. And I bet she likes__** me **__much more._

As she danced, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the music that was playing inside of her head. She glided graceful across the ice, dancing just as before. The guys all stopped skating to watch her perform and they were impressed with what they saw. In just a short amount of time, Jess was skating gracefully in almost a professional way. Not many people could do that. Perhaps she was a natural at this after all.

Logan smiled to himself as he watched Jess skate. She was learning really fast and she looked so happy. Logan didn't know that Jess did ballet though, so he was stunned by how she moved so elegantly. He thought that the way she moved was truly beautiful and it astounded him. _Since when was she so good at this? _

As she finished dancing, Jess opened her eyes to find that the guys had all been staring at her. All four pairs of eyes had been watching her movements across the ice and she felt herself blush with the embarrassment.

Carlos, James and Logan all started to walk towards her but Kendall got their first. "That was beautiful." He told her.

They all watched in amusement as Jess proceeded to blush a deep red as she felt the guys staring her down. "You know, I think I ought to be getting home." She said, "My mom will start to wonder where I am."

Her words broke the guys out of their daydream and the all nodded. Kendall offered to take her home and they skated over to the door, taking off their shoes and grabbing their bags. As Jess walked over to Kendall's car, she felt an arm wrap around her waist. She looked up to see Kendall standing next to her, smiling. "Er," she stuttered nervously, "I had a really great time with you guys today. Thanks."

"No problem," Kendall said as he opened the passenger's door for her, "I did too. Now let's get you home."

* * *

**So, there you have it. That was Chapter 4. Please remember to leave me a lovely review! Love you guys xxxxx**


	5. Ally-gators And Awkward Moments

**Hi everyone! OMG you have noooo idea how sorry I am about my lack of updating. I've been really really really busy. SORRY!**

**btrluvr8 - I'm glad you loved it so much. I hope you like this chapter! SuperSillyStories - Adorable huh? Well, if you're Team Logan, I hope you enjoy this chapter ;)**

**So, there are parts of this are slightly awkward, aha. Bare with me guys, bare with me. Please please please PLEASE review (hint hint). And remember, let me know what team you're on! Who do you think Jess should end up with? Let me know! Your vote counts!**

**Here's Chapter 5:**

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It was a Friday night and Jess was sitting on the edge of the bathtub in the bathroom in her house. She had covered her face in some homemade facial gloop and she was painting her nails. She had decided to paint them a deep red as she was fed up of the usual pale blue.

"Beauty's only skin deep," she told herself, followed by, "Yeah, right,"

She reached for her natural beauty book, which was on the windowsill. There wasn't a lot for her to do on that particular Friday. Her mom had suggested to her that she could have an afternoon of beauty. Since she had been saving her money up to buy clothes, she decided to make DIY face masks.

"Honestly, the things we girls have to do to look good," she laughed, "I bet the guys never do anything like this."

After she had rinsed off her face mask and her nails had dried, she invited Ally or a webcam chat. In all the excitement with guys, she had only called Ally once that week. Once.

Within 10 seconds, Ally answered the video call. "Hey!"

"Ally, is that you?" said Jess to the laptop, "You sound weird. Where are you?"

"In the toilet, on the plane from hell." She groaned.

Jess began laughing. She couldn't help it.

"No _seriously_. It's a nightmare." Ally continued, "We're stuck in the middle of the air and I don't like it."

Jess started laughing again. She loved Ally but she could be really overdramatic at the best of times. Perhaps it was to do with the fact that she wanted to be an actress. Either way, Jess found it incredibly comical.

"It sounds like you're in a bucket," Jess told her, "The sound's all echoey. And what are you doing in the toilet?

"I am in here," she said primly, "to talk on my laptop without the whole plane listening in and hopefully to get some sympathy from someone who's _supposed_ to be my best friend."

"I'm surprised you even have Wi-Fi." Jess laughed, "I _am _sorry Ally. It'll be fine."

"What are you doing?" Ally asked her.

"I just finished pampering myself so now I'm watching telly. You can't beat a bit of Friends on a rainy night like this!"

"Lucky thing. I wish I was there. I can't bear this much longer. I'm bored out of my mind."

"Haven't you got a book with you?"

"Read it."

"Magazine?"

"Read it."

"So am I a last resort or something?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, pretty much," Ally chuckled.

"Well, just go back and sit in your seat and talk to a passenger."

"Don't even go there. I've got the Family of Satan sitting behind me. Remind me never to have kids."

"Okay, I'll try. Anyway, I though you liked kids?"

"Yeah. But I couldn't eat a whole one. Honestly, it's absolutely awful. This little boy is driving me out of my mind: banging on my seat, arguing with his sister, playing some irritating computer games that makes a noise like a fire engine siren. And his parents are just sitting there like he's God's gift. They probably think he's the most adorable creature ever. I wish they'd tell him to zip it."

"Sorry, I can't help then." Jess said, "It's just the thought of you hiding in the toilet. You go to _all _the trendiest places."

"Yes. Hysterical. Just never say the word 'trendy' again. It smells awful in here; I think someone's been having a secret cigarette. Wait a minute, I'm going to spray."

Jess watched in amusement as Ally got out her CK and squirted it into the air. Jess loved her crazy friend.

"So, Jessica Collins," Ally began as she put her spray back in her bag, "What goes on?"

"Oh, you know," Jess said to her friend, "Nothing much.

Jess really wanted to tell Ally all about the guys. She'd only really met them at the beginning of the week but they were becoming good friends. She'd no longer had to sit on her own in class; there was always one of them who'd be more than happy to keep her company. It was almost overwhelming to Jess but she supposed that she could get used to it.

"Yes, of course," Ally said sarcastically, "I mean, it must be almost impossible for you to have _any_ fun at all without me."

Jess laughed quietly to herself but she inwardly had a feeling that Ally knew that something had happened.

"Jess, just tell me. I can keep a secret."

Sighing, Jess opened her mouth to speak, "Fine, I'll tell you. I hope you're sitting comfortably – or as comfortably as possible considering where you are."

In a rush of words, Jess then explained what had happened to her over the past week. All about how she literally 'bumped' into the guys, how they were so sweet to her, how they sat with her and even how they took her skating. By the time she had finished, Ally was staring at her open-mouthed.

"Oh. My. God." Ally said as she widened her eyes. "Please tell me you're using protection."

"I'm using what – NO ALLY NO. That's disgusting." Jess panicked as Ally giggled at her in response. Ally knew exactly how to wind Jess up and subjects like this one did the trick easily. "Ally, I've only just met these guys okay but I _know_ that they're not all serial rapists. They're really nice okay and you can't even judge them because you're not here to get to know them."

Ally smirked, "Oh, I'm going to get to know them. I can't let you spend so much time with these guys without my consent first."

"But you can't do that from England." Jess said, stating the obvious.

"Why do you think I'm on a plane?"

This one little question stunned Jess into silence, was she implying what she thought she was implying? She's on a plane because...

"YOU'RE COMING BACK TO AMERICA?" Jess practically screamed out.

The girls both excitedly celebrated and grinned like idiots. "ANOTHER HOUR AND I'M ALL YOURS!" Ally shouted into her laptop.

Suddenly, there was a loud thudding noise and both girls heard some shout, "Are you done in there yet? You've been in there ages! And I don't want to have to go in after you if –"

"OKAY, OKAY." Ally interrupted the furious growls coming from the voice.

"I'll speak to later Ally-gator." Jess said. Both girls waved to each other before Ally ended the call.

* * *

It was Saturday morning and Jess had woken up early so that she could see Ally. She had just finished showering and she was sitting in her bedroom in her towel, trying to blow-dry her hair. She smiled quietly to herself at the thought that her best friend was finally back from England. And pretty soon, she'd be seeing her in person for the first time since _forever_. Jess had already planned that she was going to take Ally to the mall so they could shop and hang out, then she was going to take her to lunch just like they used to when they were thirteen.

Jess was so consumed by her thoughts that she didn't hear the light tap on her bedroom door, nor did she notice when the door quietly creeped open. The mystery guest stood mesmerised by Jess' state of undress for a few moments before respectfully closing the door. This time, however, Jess heard the door close.

She jumped out of her skin and stood up frantically. Her towel then proceeded to accidently fall from her body, leaving her standing there wearing nothing but her own skin. She then scrambled for the towel on the floor but as she took a step across to reach it from the ground, she tripped over her own hairdryer and landed on the floor with a thud.

From outside the door, Jess' surprise guest was quietly waiting for Jess to leave the room when they heard a thud and a groan as Jess hit the floor. Against all their instincts, they opened the door quickly and rushed into the room.

"Jess, are you okay –" they began as they entered the room, but they then saw Jess lying naked on the floor with her eyes scrunched together. They widened their eyes at Jess' lack of clothes and had to quickly make a decision. _Should I leave now whilst she still hasn't seen me?, _they questioned, _or should I go help her?_

Grabbing Jess' dressing gown from her bed, they laid it over her body as they knelt down and said, "I feel like we've been in this position before."

Jess opened her eyes to see a pair of brown ones staring right back at her, and they certainly weren't her mother's. "LOGAN?"

Feeling a little awkward and that he was doing the wrong thing, Logan got up from his crouched position on the ground and he tried to take his eyes of Jess. "I'm really sorry for coming in like that but I heard a thud and I thought you might've been hurt..." he said to the wall.

"Oh my god, Logan just saw me naked..." Jess mumbled to herself with wide eyes.

Logan blushed awkwardly and looked down at his shoes, "Erm, you know, maybe I should go." He then began walking out of the room.

"Oh, no, err, stay. I needed to talk to you anyway." She stammered, "Could you just turn around for like a minute?"

Gulping nervously, Logan nodded and turned around slowly on his heels. Once Jess was sure that he couldn't see her, she ran over to her wardrobe drawers, grabbed some and underwear and yanked them on. She then picked out some high-waisted denim shorts and a white button-up blouse. Satisfied with her chosen outfit, she pulled on her clothes and called out to Logan, "Okay, you can turn around now."

Unknown to Jess, Logan had been watching Jess from the minute she'd turned around. She had a small mirror on her bedside table and he could see her every movement in it. Logan's conscience told him that he shouldn't be watching her, but somehow he couldn't help himself. When he heard her say that he could turn around, he turned on his heels and strode over to her.

"Well, nice outfit," he said nervously.

"Thank you," Jess replied, feeling equally as awkward as he did. Finally, they both broke the awkward silence at the same time.

"Would you like to –"

"Do you –"

Jess blushed, "Sorry, you go first!"

Logan shook his head, "No, ladies first. What's up Jess?"

"Well," Jess said as she sat down on her bed and beckoned Logan over to sit with her, "Have I ever told you about Ally?"

"Er no, who's Ally?" Logan replied.

"She's my best friend." Jess explained. Logan nodded his head but was confused by this statement. Jess had a best friend? He'd never seen her with anyone else; she was always on her own.

"She moved to England when we were thirteen because of her dad's job." She explained to him as if she could understand his confusion. He nodded his head as he continued. "Well, I was talking to her last night over video chat and she says she coming back to England!"

Jess smiled excitedly and Logan watched with amusement as her eyes lit up. "When does she get here?" Logan asked her.

"She got here last night but I'm going to meet her for lunch and shopping today!" she squealed excitedly. This made Logan laugh. Something as simple as that had made Jess feel so great. She must've really been close to this friend before she moved away.

It then crossed Logan's mind that if Jess was going out with her friend all day, he wouldn't be able to see her. He _had _planned on asking her to go out for lunch with him. Out loud though, he said, "That's great."

"I know!" she laughed, "Anyway, I just wanted to ask you if you and the guys wanted to meet her later? How does that sound?"

"That sounds perfect." Logan said to her. They both got up off of Jess' bed when she grabbed his arm.

Logan turned around to look at her, "What is it Jess?"

"What were you going to ask me before Logan?" she asked, looking up into his eyes.

"Oh, nothing."

* * *

**Okay, so the next chapter is where the guys meet Ally and things become a little bit awkward. I'm actually going to try and update this again tomorrow.**

**Hopefully.**

**Anyways, please review!**


	6. Crazy Stories And Missed Opportunities

**Hi again everyone!**

**SuperSillyStories - GO TEAM LOGAN! Yes, he does. btrluvr7 - glad that you died? I'll tryyyyyy (:**

**I** **apologise in advance for spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes or whatever. Please read and review my lovelies!**

* * *

"Is this what hell feels like?" Ally sighed dramatically as she slumped down onto Jess' couch. Jess had gone to meet Ally that morning after her little 'incident' with Logan and they had spent about four hours shopping. Their legs were literally about to drop off it was _that_ exhausting.

"Stop complaining Ally! You're the one that made me walk around for three hours longer than I needed to!" Jess moaned at her.

"Three hours? I thought we were shopping for four hours?"

Jess narrowed her eyes, "Yes, we were, but I finished buying clothes within the first half an hour because I'm actually saving my allowance for something important. You were just going all spend, spend, and spend like you didn't have a care in the world!"

"Yeah, well it was hard shopping in England! Every time I went out for a shopping trip, it rained on me! Can you imagine that?" Ally whined.

"Okay, okay, enough about shopping. I think I'm finished with it for one day." Jess said as she reached for the remote, "Do you want to see what's on TV?"

"No way Jess!" Ally shouted, "We have to get ready!" Ally jumped off of her space on the couch and ran towards the staircase. She then continued to take two steps at a time until she reached to top. "Get ready for what?" Jess called after her.

Ally poked her head back around the wall at the top of the stairs. She just didn't understand how Jess couldn't be making a big deal out of this. Jess had invited four guys (who were apparently insanely hot) to hang out with them. Why was she not panicking about getting ready? Surely she'd want to look her best?

"These guys you keep telling me about we'll be meeting us soon! We need to at least _try _and make an effort to look nice!" Ally told her best friend.

Sighing, Jess made her way up the stairs to wear her friend was standing and she followed her to her room. Once inside, Ally started rummaging through all of Jess' drawers and ransacking her wardrobe. Jess placed herself on her bed and pondered her thoughts. So what if they were meeting the guys? It wasn't a big deal. She supposed that Ally would want to get a bit dressed up because she hadn't met them before, but that didn't mean that Jess had to do it too. Jess just wanted to be friends with these guys and nothing more. Was there anything wrong with that?

"Okay," Ally said as she turned around and held up some clothes for Jess to see, "How about these?"

"Ally, this isn't a big deal. Why are you picking out outfits for me?"

"Oh, silly Jess," Ally laughed, "These aren't for you. They're for me honey; I want to look good just in case these guys are as hot as you say they are."

"I never said that and you know it." Jess said, waggling her finger at Ally in a slightly scolding and intimidating way, "Don't try and turn this into something it's not."

"But you said they were cute!" Ally protested, "Am I not allowed to try and look nice?" Then, after a moment's pause, she said, "Would you prefer me to look like this?"

Ally picked up a tube of foundation and squeezed it down the front of her own clothes and rubbed it in just enough so that it would stain. She back-combed her hair with her fingers and made it so that the shoulder of her shirt sloped down on one side. She then stood in the most hideous way and began walking like a zombie and grunting: "Hi, I'm Ally and I want to eat your brains."

"Oh Ally, how attractive are you?" Jess said tauntingly. "Wouldn't it just be great if I had videoed you doing that?"

Immediately stopping her acting, Ally screeched, "Please tell me you didn't!"

Jess laughed, "Relax Ally-gator, I didn't. However, I'm tempted to make you go out with that huge foundation stain just because you wasted the whole tube."

"Jess honey, it's not like you needed it anyway." Ally told her.

"Don't try and suck up to me princess." Jess laughed, "Now let's get changed and looking pretty."

* * *

The guys were all waiting in the park for Jess to arrive with her friend, Ally. Logan had told them all about how Ally had come back to America and that Jess had invited them to meet her. He did, however, decide to spare them the details about their little naked incident. He thought that was something he ought to keep to himself.

"So Logan," Kendall said, "What were you doing at Jess' house anyway?"

Logan widened his eyes and tried to keep his cool. "Oh, you know, just talking to her about the science project..."

Carlos thought about that for a moment before saying, "Logan, since when did you have science with Jess?"

"Since forever I guess," Logan lied, "I'd just never noticed her before."

Kendall watched as Logan visibly relaxed after Carlos nodded his head at his statement. Kendall had always been good at telling whenever his friends were lying – there was no mistaking that Logan was lying through his front teeth.

"What's the science project on?" Kendall asked, sure that he would catch Logan out.

"Er, radioactive materials." Logan fibbed.

"Oh, of course." Kendall nodded his head but he didn't say anything more. By the way Logan looked at him, he was pretty sure that Logan knew that he knew he was lying. The really annoying thing was Logan would lie to them – his friends. Friends don't keep secrets, and they certainly don't lie to each other's faces. What was so bad that Logan wouldn't tell them about it? Kendall hoped that Logan hadn't had a chance to kiss Jess yet. After all, Kendall was the one who had seen Jess first. In fact, the guys had all actually chosen _not_ to sit next to her that day in class. It wasn't his fault that his friends were all too idiotic to notice a beautiful girl when they saw one. That was not his problem.

Kendall was interrupted from his thoughts as he noticed Jess approaching the group. He immediately noticed that she had left her hair down and had applied a little more make-up that usual. Plus, not only was she wearing a tight fitting top, she was wearing _super_ short khaki shorts.

The second thing her noticed was Jess' friend. So this was the mysterious Ally? Kendall's immediate thought on her were that she looked really hot – but no way could she beat Jess. Well, at least the guys would have someone to fight over once Jess kissed _him_. He watched as the girls walked over and came to a halt in front of them.

"Hey guys," Jess said casually, "This is the famous Ally."

James gave Ally a once over. He thought she looked great. She was wearing a short summery dress and flats. She had long, wavy brunette hair that went down to about her waist and she had a cute smile. _No, bad James. You like Ally_, James told himself.

"Hi," Ally said to them, "Jess had been telling me _so_ much about you guys. She _always_ talks about you," she then paused to look at Logan, "and I've been hearing such great, _interesting_ things."

Oh yes, Jess had told her about what had happened earlier that day.

Jess quickly dug her elbow into Ally's ribs. "Er, no I haven't Ally, what are you talking about?" Jess said as she widened her eyes and gritted her teeth.

Ally saw that Jess was becoming embarrassed and she continued, "Oh, you know, about how Logan came in today whilst you were drying your hair and you fell over and Logan saw you naked –"

Everyone else widened their eyes and looked over at Logan who began blushing. Jess then took that opportunity to clap her hand over Ally's mouth. "Oh, Ally, stop making up stories like that!" The guys all turned to look back at the girls. "See, that's Ally," Jess continued, "Always making up these _crazy_ stories!"

Kendall raised an eyebrow at that statement. He hadn't been friends with Jess that long but it was pretty obvious when she was lying too. _So that was what Logan didn't want to tell us?_, he thought.

"Bumph his tfoo!" Ally said into Jess' hands, "mhats mhat he mhold mpgh!"

**(A/N: That translates as 'But it's true! That's what she told me!")**

"Let's just go grab some food or something," Logan suggested awkwardly as he tried to change the subject. He was a little bit shocked that Jess had told Ally what had happened. He had expected her to not tell anyway out of embarrassment. He certainly hadn't! Plus, now he'd probably have to explain to the guys about what happened and they'd want to know every little detail of the event.

"Actually, I thought we could eat here on the grass." James said, "I brought a couple of blankets and Carlos bought some food so we could have a little picnic type thing." He then went into his bag and produced the blankets as proof. "Plus, we'd love to hear the rest of Ally's _crazy _story."

Logan stared at James and shook his head wildly. No, he didn't want Ally to finish off her crazy story. No way in hell. And since when were James and Carlos working together? Did they have something against him and Kendall?

He watched as James began to roll out the blankets and the others sat down. He sighed and slumped down with them. This was going to be a _long _afternoon.

* * *

In the end, it seemed that Jess had somehow persuaded Ally to not tell the rest of her story, much to the disappointment of James, Kendall and Carlos. By the end of the afternoon, the food had all gone at everyone was packing up the picnic so they could go home.

"Do you girls want a lift?" Kendall asked as they all walked across the park together.

"Yes," Ally said quickly.

"No, Kendall, thank you but we'll be fine." Jess told him politely.

"But it's getting dark and we really don't want you to be walking home one your own at night." Carlos told them.

This statement seemed to convince Jess a little and reluctantly agreed. She didn't really want to go because she felt like she was depending on the guys too much. She didn't want to be a pain in the neck and she definitely didn't want to annoy the guys.

Everyone clambered into Carlos' car and Jess found herself sat between Logan and James. She felt a bit awkward because of what had happened earlier that day...

As Carlos drove them to Jess' place, she could feel her left knee touching Logan's hand. Logan tensed up and she could tell that he had noticed too. However, he left his hand there. This started to make Jess feel a bit uncomfortable and she shuffled in her seat. The result of her shuffling was that, in getting further away from Logan, she was then sitting closer to James. Jess sighed, _why is this car so cramped_?

"Right ladies," Kendall said as the car pulled up at Jess' house, "I believe this is your stop."

"That'll be £10.95," Carlos joked and Jess laughed politely. She looked to the right and noticed that she had to climb over James to get out of the car. She sat still for a moment, summoning up some courage before she swung one leg across James' lap.

"Sorry James," she said in embarrassment.

"No," James told her. He could feel her breath on his cheek and their lips were only centimetres apart. "It's okay."

This time it was James' turn to summon up some courage, but not to climb over her – to kiss her. Just as he was about to do so, Jess swung her other leg over him and climbed out of the car.

"Thanks for the ride," she said almost breathlessly. She then gave a small wave as the car drove away.

James sighed as he saw Jess walk inside with Ally and he couldn't help but feel like that had been a missed opportunity.

* * *

**There, that was Chapter 6! I hope you liked it and please please PLEASE review! Plus, are you Team Logan, Team Carlos, Team James or Team Kendall?**


	7. Getting Back In The Game

**Hi again. So, this is like my third update in a row and I'm pretty pleased with myself for updating so frequently. Well done moi. Right, well I was so excited when I got up this morning because it had snowed ****_loads_**** which was great. Wooooo.**

**SuperSillyStories - HA I KNOW HAHAHA. Yeah, they both are which I suppose makes them perfect for each other. Yes, you obiously love him lots. Kendall and Ally you say? Hmm, we'll see. Thanks for saying it's funny, I do try my best! JanineBTR - James should be with Ally? Well there's been a bit of dispute over who should be with who but each review/vote counts! Go Kendall! michaela. milhauser - thank you, I do try ;) another Team Logan are we?**

**Okay, here are the stats as they stand: Team Logan = 5, Team Carlos = 3, Team James = 0, Team Kendall =1**

**aww, poor James. Well, so far it's Team Logan but things could still change, read and review and let me know your team! Each time you review it counts as a vote!**

* * *

It had been almost a whole week since the guys had met up with Jess and Ally. They had seen Jess around the school still but she had politely refused each time the guys asked her to eat or sit with them. Not because she didn't want to, of course, it was just that she felt a bit weird around both James and Logan. Ally had been busy doing paperwork and going to meetings. She was trying to get the school to accept her as a student but there was a waiting list and she wasn't sure if she could get in. Needless to say, Jess really needed the company of her friend during school so then at least she could spend time with her instead of being by herself.

Today was a Friday and Jess was trying to avoid the guys as usual so that she could eat in peace with dying of embarrassment. She didn't want to confront James about the way they had almost kissed in the car and she _certainly_ didn't want to ask Logan about how he felt about seeing her naked. Something told her she already knew the answer.

She was walking down past Mr Harvey's history classroom when she heard footsteps coming up behind her. She didn't want to turn around in case the person wasn't actually looking for her and she didn't want to make a fool of herself. She carried on walking until she heard the person call out to her, "Jess, wait up!"

Jess stopped walking and turned around to see that the mysterious person was in fact _two _mysterious people. Kendall and Carlos walked up to Jess and smiled at her. "We've been looking all over for you." Kendall said, breathing heavily as he tried to get his heartbeat back to its regular pace.

"Yeah," Carlos said, "Did you know that you walk really fast?"

Chuckling quietly, Jess shook her head even though Ally had told her relentlessly that she walked faster than the speed of light. She looked up at the guys and asked, "So, why were you looking for me?"

Kendall leaned against a nearby locker and said, "We're worried about you. It's like you've been avoiding us all week. Are you alright?" He then took a step towards her and put and arm on her shoulder, "Why are you avoiding us?"

Jess shook her head, "I'm not avoiding you." She said simply.

"Yes you are Jess." Carlos said, "Even _I_ can see that."

"Look," Jess began, "I'm not avoiding you guys, okay? I'm avoiding James and Logan. There were a couple of incidents last week that I really don't want to talk to them about and I can't be around them without feeling insanely awkward, alright?" She looked up at them both and crossed her arms over her chest, "Can we leave it at that?"

"Wow," Kendall said to Carlos, "That's the longest I've ever heard Jessica Collin s talk."

Jess giggled and Kendall smiled at the fact that he'd made her laugh, "I do talk a lot," she said, "I'm shy around new people but once I feel comfortable, there's a whole other side to me that you get to meet."

Carlos hid behind Kendall's back and yelled, "Please tell us you're not actually a murderer!" Again, Jess laughed and Carlos thought to himself, _Kendall can make her laugh? Well so can I._

"Yes Carlos I'm a murderer; I carry a knife with me in my school bag. I have seven bodies in my backyard and I was planning to have you as number eight." She joked.

"Take Kendall! I'm too nice to die!" Carlos jokingly screamed.

Just at that moment, Mr Harvey came out of his classroom. He had been listening to their conversation (not that he could help it, Carlos _was_ screaming) and he said, "Take them both, that way I'd have two less troublemakers in my class." He then walked away to get some more coffee.

Jess then started laughing and couldn't control herself. She leaned against one of the lockers and slumped down to the floor, clutching her stomach, "Oh my, I can't breathe."

Carlos and Kendall sat down on either side of her and laughed with her. They liked this fun, happy side to Jess. They thought that maybe Ally coming back had had a really good affect on her. She was happier and she was laughing a lot more. It was nice to see Jess feeling better.

"Okay, okay, in all seriousness – we were wondering if you would like to come to the fair with us tomorrow. How does that sound?" Kendall asked.

"Er, will Logan and James be going too?" she asked him.

"Yeah," Carlos told her, "But we thought you could bring Ally and she could distract them so you wouldn't have to talk to them about anything awkward."

"Oh, well that's really sweet of you guys, thanks." Jess said as she began to stand up. "I'm off to English now but I guess I'll see you tomorrow." And she waved to them as she walked away.

Both boys waved back as she walked down the corridor and turned at the corner. Kendall then leaned in and whispered into Carlos' ear. "She is _so_ getting kissed."

* * *

Ally and Jess were waiting at the fair. The guys had offered to give them a lift but Jess really didn't want to spend another uncomfortable car journey sandwiched between Logan and James. She hoped that they would try and talk to her about being naked or being kissed – she felt that 1) Logan shouldn't have come in and 2) James was a flirt.

As they were waiting, Ally said, "So, which one do you have a crush on?"

Jess stood for a moment, frozen. Wait, what? How could she think that Jess had a crush on any of them? They were all just friends, for crying out loud. Couldn't she see that? Jess didn't want to have a crush on any of them because she'd learnt the hard way that relationships ruin everything. She wasn't going to put herself through any of that again.

"I do not have a crush on any of them and you know that." Jess told her friend flatly.

"Don't lie to me Jess. You can't have four guys like that all being friendly and chatty and whatnot and _not_ be attracted to at least one of them." Ally said.

"See, there's that word. _Friendly._ Do you know what that means? It means that we are all just friends and I think we'd all like to keep it that way. Relationships ruin lives and I don't want to be in one so I think it's better if we all understand now that I don't have a crush on any of them and never will." Jess told her as sternly as she could.

"Alright, chill Jess! I was just checking so that I could go after whoever I wanted." Ally said, "Now, do you want to grab some cotton candy before they get here?"

"No, it's too late for that anyway." Jess said. Ally followed Jess' gaze and she saw the guys all clambering out of Carlos' car. They immediately spotted the girls and waved to them.

Although her mind told her not to, Jess couldn't help but check them all out. Okay, so she didn't want a relationship and she certainly didn't want to form a crush on any of them but would it hurt anyone if she checked them out? Being single didn't have to necessarily mean lonely.

The guys approached them and they all bought themselves cotton candy together. Carlos helped himself to three sticks of the stuff but no one was complaining. Well, apart from Logan who insisted that Carlos would end up with a sugar rush and that they would be able to control him later. No one really seemed to care though. They were at the fair, why not go crazy and act like kids? Who wants to grow up?

Kendall spotted the merry-go-round and insisted that they went on in twos. That meant that he got to sit behind Jess (of course), Carlos got sit behind Ally and James and Logan were stuck together. They were far less than amused. It seemed that neither of the girls were very interested in them. It was a shame really; they needed to talk to Jess – each for their own reason. James and Logan hadn't discussed either of their situations with the guys. James would tell the boys because they would probably laugh at him because he missed his chance and they'd probably call him chicken. Logan didn't tell the guys because he respected that Jess probably didn't want everyone to know about what happened and they would all end up teasing both him and her about it.

In the end though, when the others went off to look at the darts stall, James pulled Logan aside. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked him.

"Er, yeah sure," Logan said nervously, "Be my guest."

James dragged Logan to the edge of the fair and looked around to make sure that others hadn't followed him. He then said, "Look, I'm telling you this Logan because I know I can trust you and you're the person who's least likely to laugh at me."

"Right," Logan said unsurely, "Go on..."

"You know in the car the other day on the way back from the picnic? Well, Jess had to get out of the car on my side and instead of getting out like a gentleman; I let her climb over me. But then, she kind of almost straddled me and we were so close and I swear if I was quicker I –"

"Did you kiss her?" Logan interrupted him to ask.

"No, I didn't. I was going to but she just quickly got out of the car before I had the chance. I feel like such an idiot because I know she realised what I was going to do and now she won't even talk to me." James groaned before sitting down on a nearby bench.

"Hey, it's okay," Logan said as he sat down next to him, "You didn't do anything wrong! In fact, you didn't mess up nearly as badly as I did..."

"What did you do?"

"Well, you know how Ally was trying to tell everyone that _crazy_ story?" Logan said, not quite meeting James' eye.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, it wasn't exactly a story – that actually happened." Logan admitted reluctantly.

James' face lit up, "No way dude! Was she as hot as we all think she is? Dude why didn't you tell us? Wow like –"

"James! That's not the point!" Logan shouted, "The point is that I shouldn't have walked in on Jess like that. She's embarrassed to look at me James and I really think I blew my chances."

"Don't worry about dude," James said as he swung a shoulder around Logan, "She'll get over it. Knowing you, you probably apologised straight away and she just feels a little worried that you didn't like what you saw. You need to relax and just act like nothing happened."

"But how can I act like nothing happened when we clearly both know it did?"

"You've got to be cool and relax. Show her that you can look past what happened and that you like Jess for all the right reasons and not just because of what she looks like. You've got to show her that it's what's inside that counts."

"Wow James," Logan laughed, "Who knew that you'd be so good at giving advice?"

"Hey," James shrugged, "I'm more than just a pretty face! Now let's get back over there and get back in the game."

They both then stood up and walked back into the fair to try and find out where everyone had gotten to.

* * *

"How many?" the guys working the machine said.

"Four," Kendall said and handed over the correct change. Carlos had suggested that they all go up in the Ferrous Wheel while they waited for Logan and James to come back. None of them had seen the pair leave and so they thought that they'd be able to see them from way up on the wheel.

They all got into their seats so that Kendall was sitting with Ally and Carlos was sitting with Jess, which was only fair because Kendall got to ride with Jess on the merry-go-round.

As the ride began, Jess peered over the side and gasped, "The view is simply amazing from up here!"

Carlos took Jess' hand and squeezed it gently "I know."

Jess turned her head back around to look at him and found herself only centimetres apart from him. Caught up in the moment, Carlos leaned in to kiss her. _It looks like I'm about to win,_ he thought excitedly. However, much to his disappointment, an annoying diseased flea-ridden ignorant bird took it as the perfect opportunity to poop on Carlos. It went right down Carlos' shirt and all over his jeans. Jess quickly leaned back away from him and looked up to see the bird flying away into the distance. Carlos was too busy trying to clean himself up with the tissues Jess had produced from her bag to notice the blush forming on Jess' cheeks.

_First James and now Carlos, _she thought to herself, _what's happening?_

* * *

**There you are, that was Chapter 7. If everyone who read this just left me a little review, even one that just had 'Team _' in it would make me sooooo happy.**

**Thanks everyone who reads and review regularly, you guys are the best!**


	8. Our Secret Place

**Wow, 95 people have viewed this story today which has made me really happy. It's a shame that only four of you reviewed though. Big shout-out to: SuperSillyStories, JanineBTR, michaela. milhauser and paumichyy for all reviewing the last chapter. I love you guys and I thought that you deserved a second update today!**

**SuperSillyStories - yep, pumping 'em out. WOO GO LOS but the pigeon poop just didn't accesorize his outfit as well as he'd hoped. Actually, James has 1 vote now so it's all good. We wouldn't want to hurt poor James' fragile little ego now would we? ;) JanineBTR - Er no, only one vote per review I'm afraid although if you reviewed twenty times per chapter I would be over the moon! Yeah, I kind of based Jess' character on a bit of a mix between me and my friend so I can relate to her too hehe. michaela. milhauser - converted to Team James have we? Well I'm sure he'd appreciate it. paumichyy - TEAM KENDALL WOOO**

**Okay, so second update of the day here. Please read and review as always and let me know your teams! I still haven't decided whose going to win so your vote will still count!**

* * *

"Be strong," Ally whispered. It was Sunday, the morning after their trip to the fair and Ally had stayed over at Jess' for a sleepover.

"Who are you talking to?" Jess asked sleepily.

"My internet connection," Ally said bluntly as she stared at the computer screen. She then began typing furiously and Jess feared that the keyboard might snap in half.

"Ally, be careful! Don't break my laptop!" Jess moaned as she came and sat down next to her. For some reason unknown to Jess, Ally quickly closed down the browser she was looking at and smiled sheepishly up at her.

"Okay, what are you up to?" Jess asked as she watched Ally quickly open up another browser as if she had just been looking at clothes online the whole time.

"What do you mean?" Ally asked as her voice became increasingly high-pitched, "Are you trying to say that it's wrong of me to be looking at clothes just because I can't afford them?"

"Ally, that's completely your own fault. You were the one shopping like a maniac last week, not me." Jess told her, "And I know that's not what you were doing when I came over here."

"Yeah, well, I was talking to a friend if you must know," Ally said.

"Why didn't you just say? I'm not going to get jealous or anything. I know you miss your English little chums but you're with me now. Can we spend some quality Ally and Jess time do you think?" Jess suggested and fluttered her eyelashes manically.

Ally nodded as Jess hugged her tightly. She felt a pang of guilt in her chest but she didn't say anything. Actually, she'd been talking to the guys in a group chat on a messaging site. The guys had all unwillingly agreed last night that they needed help. Three out of the four of them had somehow embarrassed themselves and they didn't want to keep it up. So, they decided that it was in their best interest to let Ally know what was going on. Maybe she could help them? After being informed on the whole 'Kissing Jess' game, Ally said she was willing to help because Jess needed some romance in her life.

Jess let go of Ally and got up off of her seat on the couch. "I'm going to make a smoothie, do you want one?"

"Only if it's strawberry with two straws – one pink and one green – and it has a little blue umbrella poking out of the top. Can you make me one? Please?"

Smiling, Jess gave her a thumbs-up and a wink as she disappeared into the kitchen to make two of those. Once she was gone, Ally quickly reopened the chat and immediately sent out a message:

**Ally-gator: Jess nearly saw this but it's ok, I sent her 2 make us smoothies. It's all gd.**

**Corndogs_Rule: Phew! Ok, so, will u help us? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEEE**

**MrPerfect: Yh, will ya?**

**Ally-gator: ugh, fine, I will**

**Ken-doll: WOOOO**

**MrPerfect: I am sooo kissin the hot girl!**

**Ally-gator: dude, don't call her hot okay she's a girl, not a temperature**

**LogieBear: ooooh burn**

**Corndogs_Rule: ok Ally, what type of things is Jess in2?**

**Ken-doll: Yh, we need all the help we can get**

**Ally-gator: she likes strawberry smoothies, she's in2 guys with leather jackets, she has 6 pairs of black underwear and her favourite chocolate is Cadbury's**

**MrPerfect: wait, 6 pairs, are u sure?**

**Ally-gator: Yh I'm sure; I raid her closet all the time**

**Ken-doll: wow**

**Ally-gator: she's attracted to lip biting, she thinks that guys who r smart r actually really hot and she can't stand guys who r full of themselves**

**LogieBear: James hasn't got a chance then**

**MrPerfect: rude**

"Here is one strawberry smoothie with a pink straw and a green straw with a blue umbrella for you, and one for me!" Jess announced as she re-entered the room.

Once again, Ally quickly closed down the browser and thankfully took her smoothie out of Jess' hands. "Thanks," she said quietly and sipped on her smoothie.

"So, whilst I was in the kitchen I had a thought and I figured out something for us to do tonight." Jess said in-between sips.

"Oh, right," Ally said, not really paying much attention.

"We could watch Titanic." Jess suggested.

"Ugh, please don't make me watch that film again." Ally groaned.

* * *

First thing on Monday morning, Jess was back in Mr Harvey's class. She walked inside and went to sit down in her usual seat at the back. She looked around and noticed four empty spaces in the class. The guys weren't there yet but the bell hadn't rung so there was still time.

Suddenly, four guys all walked into the classroom in sync. They were all wearing matching leather jackets, shades and they were all holding a stack of big, thick books that they each randomly got out from the library. They posed subtly for a moment before taking off their sunglasses smoothly and revealing that they were in fact James, Kendall, Carlos and Logan. Carlos got a Cadbury's dairy milk bar from out of his pocket and bit into it whilst Kendall reached into his bag and revealed a strawberry smoothie. He sauntered forwards and sat down next to Jess. "One strawberry smoothie for the prettiest girl in the room," he said as he handed her the drink. Jess giggled nervously and muttered a quiet thank you.

One by one the boys filtered into the room before each taking a seat and casually getting out calculators and notebooks. Their attempt at looking smart, casual and hot at the same time was failing badly.

"Gentlemen," Mr Harvey said as he stood up off of his chair to begin the lesson, "I do not appreciate the use of calculators in my classroom. If I wanted to be a math teacher, I would have done so. Please put them away before I have to confiscate them."

All four boys shoved the calculators back into their bags before trying to sit like they were before. As Mr Harvey began his lesson, Kendall leaned back slightly on his chair and said to Jess, "So, what do you think of our new look?"

Jess laughed, "What is it meant to be? A cross between a bad boy and a math teacher?"

"Er –"

"What do you get if you cross a gang leader with a mad scientist?" Jess asked him.

"What?"

"The look you're trying to pull off." Jess chuckled and found herself in a fit of laughter. Mr Harvey turned around from the board to say, "Knight, Collins, get out and go to the Head." Jess continued to laugh and so Mr Harvey shouted furiously, "You two need to GET OUT!"

Kendall quickly took responsibility and grabbed both of their bags in one hand and Jess' arm in the other. "Sorry sir," he said to Mr Harvey as he led Jess out of the classroom. He then continued to lead her away until they were a safe distance away from the Mr Harvey's room. Leaning against a nearby locker, he said "Jess, stop laughing."

Jess frowned, "Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. You guys looked ridiculous. What were you thinking when you woke up this morning? Did you lot get dressed in the dark?"

Kendall shook his head for a minute before scrunching his eyebrows together. He thought that she had liked guys like this?

"Don't you like it?"

"Of course I don't, you guys don't look anything like yourselves and it bugs me." Jess admitted.

"Oh, I see," Kendall said as he took off his leather jacket and stuffed it into his bag. "So, rather than going to see the Head, I thought we could just take a little walk."

"Are you suggesting that we ditch, Kendall Knight?" Jess asked in mock surprise.

Kendall made sure to bite his lip a little as he pretended to think and he watched out of the corner of his eye as Jess gasped a little bit and smiled. He then said to her, "I didn't say anything about that at all. We're not ditching; we're taking a leisurely stroll while we should be in class. There's a difference you know." He winked.

Smiling up at him, Jess said, "Well then, I would be delighted to take a leisurely stroll with you whilst we should be in class Mr Knight."

For a little while, Jess and Kendall roamed the hallways and corridors together, just talking about everything really. Kendall told her about some of the antics that he and the guys used to get up to when they were younger and Jess told him some more about her dancing.

"So is that what you want to do as a career?" Kendall asked her.

"I don't know. I mean, I love dancing and I've loved it ever since I was a little girl but something tells me I'm not good enough. The dancing industry is tough and if you don't make it, you fall flat on your face. I just don't want to waste my time on something if I won't get anywhere with it." She paused before saying. "Dancing is a way of expressing myself and it makes me feel alive but sometimes I just think of it as more of a hobby rather than a career move."

"Yes, but you're so good at it. Don't you ever think that you might have something worth dancing for?" Kendall questioned.

"Honestly, sometimes I just don't have to time to think." Jess said truthfully.

This one little statement puzzled Kendall. What did she mean by 'not having time to think'? It was then that Kendall knew exactly what to do.

"Come with me," Kendall said, "I have to show you something."

He grabbed her by the hand and led her through the school corridors. He liked the feeling that he was getting from holding Jess' hand. He felt sparks and he smiled to himself. Finally, he led her to a staircase that seemed to go on forever. Kendall started racing up them but Jess stopped.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see," Kendall called back down and Jess began to follow him up the staircase once again. As they reached the last flight, Kendall slowed down and stood himself behind Jess. "Close your eyes," he whispered into her ear.

Jess felt chills go down her spine as she felt his breath on her neck and she did as he told her to. Kendall gently guided her up the last few steps for saying, "Open."

Upon opening her eyes, Jess looked around herself and gasped. She was standing in the most beautiful garden she had ever seen. Not only were there patches of grass, pathways and flowerbeds but there was an allotment growing vegetables and one in particular which was growing strawberries.

"It's absolutely breathtaking." Jess turned back to look at him, "How come you never told me about this place?"

"It's my own little secret; it's something that I've never told the guys. When I first came to high school, I was part of the gardening club. I don't do that anymore, but I still like to come up here. You want to know why?" Kendall said.

"Why?"

"I like to come up here and think." Kendall smiled at her as he leaned over a wall to look out at the world, "And I figured that maybe you'd like to come here and think too."

Jess came to stand next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder, "That's really sweet Kendall. Thank you."

The two stood quietly side by side for a while, staring out into the distance. Kendall felt pleased with himself that he had finally told someone about this place after all these years. It was good to share something as special as that with Jess.

Kendall turned his head to look at Jess but as he did so, she did too. Once again, Jess found her lips only centimetres away from yet _another _guy. She felt butterflies in her stomach as Kendall leaned in to kiss her. She could almost feel his soft lips on her own and –

"YOU TWO GET DOWN FROM THE ROOF NOW! BLOODY HOOLIGANS!"

The pair sprang apart and hurriedly made their way back down the spiral staircase, not saying another word about their _almost _kiss.

* * *

**There you go, now they've all embarrassed themselves. My dear god, these boys never learn. Please leave me a nice little review, thank you :) xxxxxxxxx**


	9. Relationships Ruin Everything

**Okay, I know that's it's been ages since my last update and I am ****_really_**** sorry about that. I've just been so busy with all the other things that I do that I've had to prioritize. But of course, my stories should always come first. Silly me.**

**paumichyy - OMG I KNOW THEY ALMOST KISSED SuperSillyStories - Yeah they're ridiculous but that's why we love them! They have a real bad habit of embarrassing themselves don't they, huh? I know, that would've been such a dynamite moment but nevermind.**

**Yeah, so sorry about the lack of updating, I'll try harder! So please read and review and I deeply apologize if this doesn't live up to expectations. Please let me know if you're Team Kendall, Team Logan, Team Carlos or Team James!**

**Review? Pretty pleeeeaaaaaase?**

* * *

Pacing back and forth in his room, his head span. Everyone was trying to kiss Jess and he knew he should be trying too but something told Logan that this was the wrong approach. They were toying with Jess' heart and it felt wrong.

Prior to today, Logan thought that he was still in with a shot; Kendall hadn't tried to kiss her yet. Now though, he felt like he was the only one who wasn't trying. The others had even teased him about it and it was really starting to annoy him.

The funny thing was though, Logan was trying. They just couldn't see it.

Kissing Jess, this 'game' that they'd all agreed to, was completely and utterly wrong. To him, getting Jess to like him wasn't about kissing or flirting. He'd rather be friends with her first. Then, if Jess really liked him and things turned out the way he hoped they would, they could be more than that.

Plus, he'd already seen her naked so at least he had something over the guys.

Logan sat down on his bed and put his head between his knees. He hadn't really seen Jess all day but he'd received an ear full from Kendall about what she'd been doing. He felt a pang in his heart as he thought about the other guys trying to win Jess over.

And that was when the phone rang.

* * *

Pacing back and forth in her room, her head span. Not only had James and Carlos tried to kiss her, but now Kendall too! It was just too much for Jess to take in. Previously she had put the first two incidents down to coincidence but now she'd been led to believe otherwise. Why would they all try to kiss her? Was there something going on that she was missing? She thought she was becoming their friend but these mixed signals were confusing everything.

After their shared moment on the roof, the pair of teens had escaped back down the fire exit. Both Kendall and Jess had felt really awkward about their little moment so neither said a word to the other. As they reached the bottom steps, the bell rang for their next class; the two went their separate ways to go to their different classes. For the rest of that day, Jess didn't see Kendall or the other guys. Not that she went looking for them – Jess felt it best if she gave herself a bit of space from Kendall.

Her mind was so confused: was she reading into things too deeply? Maybe Kendall and the guys didn't actually mean to try to kiss her, maybe these were all accidents that seemed more intense than they actually were. Jess pondered her thoughts as she stopped walking and came to a halt by her bed. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed.

Sadly, Ally was still away visiting her grandparents. Although Jess was used to being apart from Ally she still felt like she _really_ needed to talk to her. There were so many mixed emotions running through her system that she couldn't control her feelings. Ally was back, which Jess thought was a great thing and she was becoming used to the idea of having a friend around, even though she'd been without one for so long; he friendship with the guys was coming along great and she was becoming more and more comfortable around them; yet the guys were sending mixed signals to her – three out of four of them had tried to kiss her! And then there was the anniversary of his death...

It was becoming all too much for Jess heart to handle. And the only solution to the problem was talking to the one person she knew would listen without trying to get involved and understand without pestering her.

Jess picked up the phone.

"Logan?" she whispered.

On the other end of the phone, Logan could hear the sadness in her voice. "Jess?"

"Can you come over? I need you."

* * *

A knock on Jess' bedroom door made her sit up abruptly. She sighed and straightened out her clothes a bit. Jess squinted her eyes together and pinched the bridge of her nose, as though she had a headache. Inhaling deeply, she let her hand drop to her side before saying, "Come in."

Logan attentively entered the room. He looked around him and realized that he never really noticed the layout of Jess' room before. It was lived in, that was evident, yet it was tidy and well organised. It was like the perfect balance in between. This made Logan chuckle because it reminded him so much of himself.

He spotted Jess sitting on the edge of her bed. However, he stopped dead still when he noticed that she was staring blankly ahead of herself. She looked deep in thought and Logan couldn't help but sigh at how beautiful she looked in that moment. He then piped up, "Jess?"

Jess snapped out of her reverie when she heard Logan's voice. She remembered inviting him in but she didn't recall him actually entering. Funny, she seemed to have gone off in her own little daydreams. She had a bit of a habit of doing that.

"Logan," she began as she pattered the space next to her on the bed. Logan cautiously tiptoed over to her, feeling a bit wary as he was in _Jess_' room and sitting on _Jess_'s bed. He went with it anyway.

"So, um," Logan said to break the silence, "You wanted to talk to me about something?"

Jess took a deep breath, "Logan, I'm just so confused right now. I feel like I'm losing myself in this confusion and I don't know how to deal with this." And that was the honest truth. Jess' thoughts and feelings were building up and she was on an emotional rollercoaster. She just needed to get off it before she threw up.

However, Logan immediately misunderstood her words. It all made sense now. He struggled to finds the word to say before spitting out, "It's okay if that's how you feel. I understand if you're finding it hard to tell someone." Of course that was what's wrong! It all became clear to Logan. That was why she found it easier to have guy friends and wasn't too embarrassed about him seeing her naked. Why hadn't he seen this before?

"So this is normal? What I'm feeling?"

Logan nodded and put a reassuring hand around her.

"It's okay if you're gay."

Jess practically choked on her own saliva. Logan thought she was gay? Part of Jess felt like laughing at the situation she was in and another part of her was enraged that Logan was questioning her sexuality. Jess had nothing against people who were gay but she knew that she definitely wasn't. Falling off the bed, Jess laughed. Oh yes, she laughed.

"What's so funny?" Logan asked her.

"I'm not gay." Jess said as she clutched her stomach. She then sat up and looked him straight in the eye. "But I do need to talk to you about something."

Logan closed his eyes in embarrassment and realized what a fool of himself he'd made in front of Jess. However, he also realized that whatever Jess wanted to talk to him about mus have been important. He gave Jess a weak smile and nodded his head, showing her that he was willing to listen to her.

Coming to sit back on her bed, Jess recollected her thoughts. Then, she said, "Logan, there's a lot going on in my life right now and I just need someone to talk to. And please don't judge me on what I'm about to say but I really feel like I can trust you more than any of the other guys."

This received a nod from Logan.

"It's just," Jess continued, "over the couple of weeks, I've been feeling great. I met you and the guys and you've been nothing but nice to me. Then Ally came back and things couldn't have been better... And I know I shouldn't be complaining but I need to get this off of my chest."

This received another nod of understanding.

"James tried to kiss me. Do you remember? We were in the car on the way back from the picnic – you were sitting right next to me." Jess told him.

"Yeah, I remember." Logan mumbled.

"Then Carlos tried to kiss me, that day we went to the fair. Oh god, and then Kendall tried to kiss me today. I just feel like this is more than coincidence, you know? And to make matters worse I actually like this one guy but now I'm just confused out of my mind and I –"

Jess stopped herself, "I'm blabbering aren't I?"

"No, no, I'm listening;" Logan reassured her. He then took a moment to study her face, "That's not the only thing though, is it?"

It was like Logan could read her like a book. How could he tell that there was something else? See, it wasn't all this attention from the guys that was bothering Jess. I was just that, if she was going to kiss someone – she wanted them to mean it. She wanted a real kiss, something to remember and to be able to tell the grand kids someday. And maybe that one real kiss could lead to a perfect relationship? But then, that was the thing; perfect relationships didn't exist. They weren't guaranteed or promised. You were lucky if you found someone to be in a relationship with at all.

Staring up into Logan's eyes, Jess decided to trust him, "If I tell you this Logan, you've got to promise never to repeat a word of it to anyone – not to Kendall, not the Carlos, not to James, not to your teddy, not to your pillow – anyone."

"I promise."

Jess took a deep breath and then she began, "My dad died a couple of years ago. And I was there. I am the girl who saw her dad die. I'm the girl who walked outside to a screaming mother, a brutal boyfriend and a dead dad. I saw my boyfriend stab my dad. But do you know what I did? I just stood there. I JUST STOOD THERE AND WATCHED MY DAD DIE. And do you know why my boyfriend stabbed my dad? All because of love."

Tears streamed down Jess' face as she turned away from Logan. She didn't want him to see her cry but she knew if she stopped now she wouldn't be able to finish. "My mum cheated on my dad with my boyfriend. My boyfriend cheated on me with my mum. Whichever way you look at it, it's pretty nasty. When people first hear about this they're all like _oh my goodness, you poor thing_ – but they never mean it. They feel sorry for the situation but not for me. I hate this situation too. I hate that my dad's gone. I hate that my mum cheated on my dad. I hate that my boyfriend cheated on me. But most of all, I hate the fact that I didn't see it coming."

Jess stopped talking and Logan leaned across to comfort her in his embrace. He felt her crying on his shoulder but he didn't care whether his shirt was tear-stained or not. He had _no_ idea that Jess had such a hidden dark past.

"Relationships ruin everything." Jess finally whispered into his shoulder.

"I know." Logan whispered back, "I know."

* * *

**So that was Chapter 9! I promise I'll update more frequently. And please review. If you've got time to view then a little 're' in front won't take much time.**


	10. Don't Blush, Damn It

**michaela. milhauser - WOW is a good word for it - that chapter was a bit intimate at times and Logan was ****_really_**** sweet. Team Logan? Well I'm glad that you see him as boyfriend material. teamkendall - judging by the name I'm guessing you're rooting for Carlos? ;);) Great to see another Team Kendall. And ugh I know, what the hell is up with her ex? Ah well, make sure to keep reading! BigTimeHannah - Two days? Wow, I'm impressed. Yeah, I deemed it surprise worthy. Yes Logan should definitely tell the guys to call it off but will he? You'll have to wait to find out!**

**3 reviews! Not the best I've had... Maybe 5 this time? Pweeeettyyyy pweeeese?**

**I've finally got a good idea where this story's headed but your input will still count so please let me know who you think should end up with who and all that jazz.**

**PS - If you're not reading anything by SuperSillyStories then you're missing out, BIG TIME. Amazing stories, right there.**

**PPS - I hope you're all voting for BTR for the KCAs!**

* * *

"You go on, Ally," Jess said looking up at the school building. "I just want to take a walk past the gym."

The school grounds were crowded due to the ever expanding school throng. Everyone was turning up because classes started in ten minutes. Ally burst out laughing. Jess was tiny, not barely over five foot, and she would surely get lost in the crowd. "Yeah right," she said, "I can see the headlines now. Have you seen this girl? Blonde. Small..."

"I prefer the phrase _petite_," Jess interrupted.

"Sorry, right. _Petite_ – last sighted at Minnesota High being dragged off by an angry group of hormonal teenagers." Jess and Ally were standing shivering outside the entrance to their school on that Tuesday morning. Ally had finally been accepted to go to Jess' school and they were both ecstatic about it! The news had completely taken Jess' mind off of the upcoming anniversary of her dad's death even though she had only spoken to Logan the previous night.

"Hey, I'm a strong and independent girl! I can look after myself." Jess defended.

"Yeah," Ally replied, pushing stray dark hairs back behind her ears. "Right. Just don't be late, okay? You still need to help me find my way around this place. I'm not good with school and book stuff and I'll need to copy all of your notes too."

Ally had recently gone through a phase when she was in England and she was all worried about people thinking she was shallow. Then she started going out with this boy and she got paranoid that he might not think she was very bright. But Jess could see that Ally was clearly really clever, she just wasn't into reading much. She was the original good-time girl. Good times to her being boys, clothes, and well... more boys. That morning though, as they were getting ready for school, Ally declared that she was going to learn about _everything. _Jess thought she was fine just the way she was but if that was what it took to make Ally happy she was just going to go along with it.

Jess looked around herself at her school. The kids at school were all separated into cliques and she didn't know where to walk to. She waved goodbye to Ally and watched her walk inside. Jess then wandered mindlessly through the swarming school grounds.

Minnesota High was buzzing with chatter. The grounds were filled with stuck-up jerks, giggling girls and boisterous boys. The noise was overwhelming and Jess found it unnerving. She turned the corner to see the field was empty. It seemed to stretch on for miles and it looked so perfect and still. Jess sat down on the bleachers overlooking the grass and she really began to appreciate the beauty and the peace.

"What's 'sup little J?" a voice shouted behind her.

Spinning around, Jess saw that the guys were coming up to sit with her and James had just called out to her. "Hey guys," she replied, "Nothing much, I'm just thinking."

Both Logan and Jess shared a small look before smiling weakly at each other. Kendall picked up on this and asked, "Is there something going on here?"

The pair snapped out of their daze and Jess mumbled, "Logan came over last night to chat."

"That's _so_ romantic." Carlos cooed sarcastically.

"Nah. I just fancied some company and Logan seemed to be perfect at the time." Jess grinned sheepishly.

Logan's spirits sank. _Perfect at the time?_ He thought he meant more than that to Jess. He thought that maybe he was finally breaking down some barriers. He was knocking down the walls on a journey to Jess' heart and he thought he was actually taking the right approach to get there. What had happened to change her mind? They had actually talked that night and Logan had felt more comfortable around Jess than any other girl he knew.

How could she say that? Then again, there was that one thing that Jess had said last night that bugged him; one phrase just kept running through his mind. _'I actually like this one guy'_ she'd said. Of course she liked one of the other guys! What with their advances on her she was bound to fall for one of them. Was it James with his suave ways or Carlos with his goofy grin? Or was it Kendall with his romantic gestures?

The bell rang and interrupted Logan's thoughts. The guys and Jess all trudged off to class without thinking or speaking about what happened the night before.

* * *

Waiting for Jess to return was like waiting for exam results for Ally and a very loooong ten minutes later, she arrived with the guys in tow. They strolled into class together and smiled when they saw her. "Ally, you got accepted to the school?" James asked.

"Yeah, pleased to see me?" Ally replied sarcastically with an eyebrow raised.

"Hmm, let me think about that." James retorted and the pair laughed. Carlos watched as they then started chatting to each other mindlessly as if they were old friends. He couldn't help but wonder whether James no longer liked Jess and he had actually developed a crush on Ally. Was it possible?

Carlos turned back around to see that Logan and Jess were deep in conversation too. They seemed to have become closer somehow and Carlos wondered whether it had something to do with Logan's visit to her house last night. Had he kissed her?

"Okay," Miss Waring said as she entered the room, "Settle down and take your seats please."

Immediately, Jess sat down at the back of the class and the boys simultaneously tried to sit down next to her. After a bit of pushing and shoving Carlos managed to push the others away. James shrugged and sat down next to Ally and Logan and Kendall ended up with one another. They looked pretty pissed that they didn't get to sit next to Jess but they were used to sitting next to each other so they went with it anyway.

Carlos leaned across and whispered into Jess' ear. "I wonder what weird project Wacko Waring has lined up for us today."

Wacko Waring – that's what the guys called her. Their Personal, Social and Health Education teacher, that is. She was an okay teacher on the whole; she made you think about stuff. Miss Waring was a bit odd looking. Make that very odd looking. She looked like she'd put her finger in an electric socket. Her expression was always startled, like a cartoon character that had seen something shocking and their eyes had popped out. She was as thin as a wire and had frizzy grey hair that coiled out at all angles. But then, that was only a description. Carlos was never one to be shallow about looks.

As Miss Waring perched on the corner of her desk and hitched her skirt up, everyone received an eyeful of her pale legs above her knee-high stockings. She had skin like cling-film – transparent. You could see all the veins underneath it and it was enough to bring your breakfast back up. Carlos watched as James stifled a laugh.

"Now," Wacko Waring began, "There are a few things I want you to think about this lesson. Today's lesson subject: careers."

Jess inwardly groaned. She'd been dreading this. See, she didn't have a clue. Aside from dance, there wasn't really anything she was good at and it had been bugging her for a while that maybe she'd never find herself a good career.

"I know it's a lot to think about," Miss Waring continued, "I don't want any of you to feel pressurized You've still got plenty of time, that's why I want you all to think about it now so that it doesn't come as a big rush later on in life."

_Too late,_ Jess though, _I'm already in major panic mode._

"I want you to think about your goals. Your future, what are your ambitions? What do you want to be when you're older? Has anyone got any ideas?"

James shot his hand into the air. He was bursting to tell everyone his big ambition. When Miss Waring pointed to him he proudly announced, "Rich and famous."

Everyone laughed. Miss Waring then pointed to another member of the class, one of the stuck-up cheerleaders. She told the class that she wanted to be a lifeguard.

"Lifeguard, well, that's an original one. And why do you want to be a lifeguard?"

"So I can give all the boys the kiss of life, miss."

Some girls have no self-respect. "Very funny," Miss Waring said, "Those of you who know what you want to do are lucky – like James, who knows exactly what he wants – but in life you don't always end up doing the things you planned. I wanted to be a musician when I was your age and here I am teaching a bunch of adolescents about their futures."

_Hmm_, though Jess, _even more the reason why dance would get me nowhere._

"Now, you don't have to decide today, but it does help to have some ideas of what direction you might like to go in once you leave high school. For those of you that don't know, we'll have a look over the next few weeks. In fact, a good starting point is to look at who you are now. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your hobbies? The seeds of today are the fruits of tomorrow."

Wacko Waring then encouraged everyone to write notes and ideas about who they are and who they might want to be in ten years time. Jess looked around to see everyone else scribbling madly. She knew what Ally would be writing. She wanted to be an actress; she had done since she was nine. She'd performed in a couple of school plays and she took a couple of classes when she was eleven. Then, when she went to England, she attended a performing arts school in London.

Jess stared blankly at the paper in front of her. _What makes me 'me'?_ She asked herself.

Carlos looked across from his own work to see Jess furrowing her eyebrows together with her eyes closed. "Hey Jess," he whispered, "Don't you know what you want to do?"

"No," Jess replied quietly, "I'm too small to be a dancer and that's the only thing I want to do in life. God, it's so frustrating." She then paused to ask, "What have you decided to be?"

"Ha, that's easy. I'm going to be the world's best food critic. And it's going to work too because I love food full stop!" Carlos told her.

Jess smiled, "Carlos you'd be perfect at that."

"Collins, Garcia, quieten down please." Wacko Wearing told them from the front of the classroom.

"Sorry Miss Waring," Carlos mumbled before continuing the conversation, "Why can't you be a dancer? I'm short and I've still got ambitions."

"Yes, but you're still taller than me Carlos, remember that." Jess replied.

"So," Carlos began, changing the subject, "What did you and Logan talk about last night?"

"Oh," Jess gasped, taken by surprise at the boldness behind his question, "Just some stuff. I was lonely so I just invited him over." She tried her best to play it cool but she could feel her cheeks flushing. She hoped it didn't show on her face. She had a really bad habit of blushing at the most inappropriate times. When she was seven and someone was all "Oh you fancy _" she would blush insanely even if she didn't. It was something that she never managed to gain control over and she prayed to god that perhaps she hadn't gone fifty shades of red.

"You're blushing," Carlos told her bluntly.

_Damn it,_ she thought.

"Did he kiss you?"

"No, he –"

Did he WHAT? Jess panicked at the sound of it – Logan _kissing_ Jess. Logan liked her? What? No, he couldn't possibly... He was like her best friend out of all the guys and that would just be awkward. Logan was like the best guy-friend she'd ever had and she felt more connected to him than the other guys. He was her shoulder to cry on and he was a real sweetheart but he was also _trés _cool. They were really good friends weren't they?

But what if Logan did like her? What would that do to their friendship? They'd only known each other for a little under a month but their friendship was strong and Jess didn't want to jeopardize that.

"Jess? Earth to Jess, can you hear me?" Carlos interrupted her thoughts, waving his hand manically in front of her face.

"Wha-er-wha-what?" Jess mumbled, snapping out of her feelings.

"I said, 'did Logan kiss you?'" Carlos asked.

"Oh, no, of course he didn't. Why would he do that?" Jess asked back with one eyebrow raised.

Carlos suddenly realized his mistake: of course Logan hadn't kissed her! He was too weird to forward about something like that. He wasn't like any of the others. He liked to build up a relationship instead of taking what he wanted. Why was Carlos so stupid? Now Jess was going to realize something was up and she'd catch on their game!

"No reason!" Carlos shouted.

"Carlos Garcia, keep your voice down in my classroom!"

* * *

**And that, my friends, was chapter 10! Please keep the reviews coming in because they make my day and it's great to hear some feedback! Until next time... mwah**


	11. You Already Knew

**Right, so I've made a decision with how this story is going to go and I've considered all your suggestions and found a way of making you all happy. However, although I have ideas I'm not 100% so keep the ideas coming and stuff.**

**Btw, I didn't realize I had to do a disclaimer. Oh well, here it is anyway: I don't own BTR, and if I did we would all be out eating ice cream and partying so obviously I don't. I do, however, own Jess, Ally and the plot.**

**SuperSillyStories - Well I felt bad about not reviewing in so long so I gave you a shoutout to make up for it. Ugh, when teachers do that it's naaahsty. Yes, Carlos would make an adorable food critic. The pretty boy and the actress, it's like a match made in heaven. Guest - Go Logan! Chynadoll112 - Totes team Logan? wooo SprinklzAndPixieDust - Hands down she needs a logie bear! The underdog you say? TEAMLOGAN- well I wonder who you're rooting for ;) She has such a dark past, I know. Well, hopefully the guys can look out for her. michaela. milhauser - hmm, Jess isn't stupid so she probably will. Guest (2) - somehow I agree, she probably will starcommand - Grea teach chapter? Well thank you very much *bows dramatically* Team Kendall? Great. You'll love this chapter then. James and Ally will probably make a great couple, you're right. **

**WOW guys, thanks for all the reviews - it really means a lot to me!**

**Okay, so I wrote like a little song for this chapter so please don't judge me because my songwriting skills are pretty terrible. **

* * *

"So, to summarize " Leon Stevens said from the stage later that day, " You've got five mains rules and if you stick to them, you won't go wrong."

Jess turned the page of her book to write some more notes. "Rule one," he continued, "Your job is to stop people from simply flicking through your magazine. You have to draw them in to actually read what's on the page. You do this by having hooks on the page: pictures, titles, captions, and quotes. Now, if people scan your page, they can quickly see what it's about. So the title and captions should be... what?"

Kendall looked around as a few hands went up in the hall. Jess her media class third period, around the same time that he had a free period. This resulted into him agreeing to take her to the speech going on the assembly hall for the future journalists. Jess didn't know what made her take media, but she figured that it's good to see how the world reacts to celebrities if she wanted to become a famous dancer.

A pretty blonde girl at the front of the hall raised her hand and Leon smiled at her. "_Interesting," _she said and gave him a sweet smile.

"Right," Leon smiled, keeping his eyes on her for a few moments. "_Interesting _– or funny. These hooks are important, if not more so, than the copy." He then leaned forwards, "And your name is?"

"Imogen Sand," she giggled.

Jess was scribbling furiously to get it all down when she noticed a girl across from her hadn't written a thing. "Do you need more paper?" she whispered to the girl.

The girl grinned and shook her head before saying, "No thanks. I'm just here for the view."

_You and half the school, _Jess thought. She didn't think a talk had ever been so well attended, not only by the students but also by the teachers. But then, most of the teachers were aspiring writers, according to Wacko Waring. She was very _in_ with the staff so of course she'd know these things. She told Jess that half of the staff were secretly working on novels and planning to get out of teaching.

"Rule two," Leon said with his smooth English accent, "Make sure your pictures or photograph is appropriate to the copy. You don't want a big smiley picture next to a tragic piece. Rule three: Use your pictures and captions in a creative way. For instance, you're doing a sports page and have a feature on hockey coaching. Any ideas?"

Kendall seemed to perk up at the mention of hockey. Kazia Kamińska put up her hand. "You could have a photo of some kids playing, with a caption _Learn to play hockey._"

Leon nodded, "You could. It's apt but not very inspiring. Any other ideas?"

Jess had one but she didn't want to look like a moron in front of everyone, especially Kendall. Kazia was blushing like mad after Leon had squashed her idea. Jess went over in her mind what she'd say if she could only pluck up the courage.

Leon pointed towards her seat at the back.

It was Kendall. "How about a picture of Mikko Koivu in full flight on the ice, saying something like, "Are you the next Hockey Champion?"

"Now we're cooking?" Leon said, "That's more like it – only it might be a bit intimidating, as most people know they'll _never_ be the next Koivu. So, it might put them off going... but, good idea. Anymore?"

Smiling, Kendall felt pleased with himself. He was sure that he felt Jess relax a little next to him and he made him feel great. He was a man on a mission; he was going to impress Jess with his intelligence and suaveness.

_Me, _Jess thought,_ I've got an idea_. She tried to summon up what courage she had to put her hand up. "Come on," Leon said, "Part of being a pro is throwing ideas into the pot and not feeling bad when someone knocks them down. It doesn't matter. We learn as much by our mistakes as our success, if not more. Come on, who's going to stick their neck out?"

Jess could feel herself going red as she put her hand up, but she was bursting to put her idea forward and see what he thought of it. "You," Leon said, looking in her direction, "Blake Lively in the back row."

She looked beside herself; he couldn't mean her could he? _Blake Lively_? But no one else had their hand up. He pointed at her again, "You. Come on. With the blonde hair?"

_Oh, he did mean me_, Jess thought. She could feel herself blushing harder than ever. She took a deep breath. "What if you used a picture of last year's winning team left wing," she finally managed to say, "on his backside with the puck flying off in the other direction and a caption saying, 'Even the best need a little extra help'?"

"Love it," Leon beamed, "It may not make you want to play hockey, but it will make you stop long enough to read what's going on."

"Well done Blake," Kendall whispered into Jess' ear as the red on her face spread to the tips of her ears... At the end, Leon Stevens took some questions from the floor, but Jess hardly took in what was going on. She spent the last ten minutes of his talk in a daze at the feeling of Kendall's breath on her ears. She was really happy that he had agreed to come with her. She couldn't wait to tell Ally later.

As everyone got up to leave, Jess noticed Leon making his way over to where they were sitting. She froze in her chair. She panicked; _he was coming over to speak to me?_ She could feel herself going crazily red again and breathless as she planned what she'd say. She tried her best to look natural and smile as he approached. She had a slight feeling that she looked like a grinning hyena though. As he reached the back row, however, he knelt down and turned his back to her. "So, did you enjoy the talk?" he asked the girl sitting next to her.

"Oh yes," she beamed, "Fascinating."

That wiped the smile off of Jess' face. Literally. She had a quick look around and prayed that no one had witnessed it, but too late. Kendall had noticed and was hovering at the side. He'd seen it all. Her perking up with a stupid grin, then Leon turning his back on her to talk to that girl. God, how humiliating.

It wasn't that Jess had a crush on Leon Stevens, no, it was just that he was used to interviewing celebrities and he knew so much about the world of fame that Jess was all too eager to know more. Jess looked away from Kendall and got up to walk to the back door. Leon slipped into her vacant chair as though she'd never been there and continued chatting for the girl who was '_just there for the view.'_

"Hey Jess, wait up!" Kendall called as Jess tried to make her getaway.

_Oh no_, Jess inwardly screamed. She wanted to get out, she wanted to get home and hide. What did Kendall want? Jess pretended she hadn't heard and continued walking.

"_Jes_s_,"_ Kendall said, catching up.

"Yeah?"

"That was a great answer you gave there."

"I could say the same thing to you."

"Are you okay?" Kendall asked as he placed his hands on her shoulders and gave her a look of concern. He genuinely looked worried about her and Jess sighed.

"I thought he was coming to talk to me."

"I know," Kendall said gently, "I saw."

"I feel like a right moron, it was like I was invisible or something. I didn't even want to chat him up, I just wanted to have a general conversation with him, you know?"

"Don't feel down Jess. He's an asshole if he didn't want to come and talk with you because you are the best conversationalist I know." Kendall said as he nudged her shoulder playfully, "Plus, he did call you Blake Lively."

"Yeah, he did, didn't he?" Jess replied. She'd forgotten about that. "I thought he meant someone else at first. I guess it's because I decided to have my hair down today."

"Maybe. But you do have a look of her. You know, she's stylish, you're stylish," he teased. "Jess Collins – invisible? Hardly. Only mistaken for the sexiest woman in Minnesota."

"_Yeah_," Jess said, "Don't mess with me..."

Wait, did Kendall just say she was sexy? Wow where did that come from? Obviously he didn't mean it; he was only trying to boost her confidence. But still. He called her sexy. That could mean so many things. It could mean: 'you're really pretty and any guy would be lucky to have you' or it could mean: 'you're hot and I would tap that'.

"Come on," Kendall said, interrupting her thoughts, "Let's go."

* * *

"Make yourself at home," Kendall said, flinging his bag onto the couch and opening the fridge.

Jess pulled a chair out at one end of the pine dining table that took up half of the kitchen. Before she could sit, however, she was startled by a small girl who appeared from under the table. She put her video game down and began to ask Jess questions with great enthusiasm.

"Why are you here? You're pretty. Do you like video games? Who are you? How old are you? Do you like chocolate pudding? Are you Kendall's girlfriend?" the small girl asked in a rush.

"_Down_, Katie," Kendall said as the girl asked her last question. Jess chuckled.

"Sorry big bro, she's new." Katie said, wiping her face on her sleeve.

"Hey, I'm Jess."

Jess stuck out her hand and Katie shook it, business like. "Cranberry or apple?" Kendall asked from the fridge.

"APPLE!" Katie shouted.

"Cranberry please," Jess said, settling into her chair. Kendall had invited her round for dinner as an attempt to cheer her up a bit after the day's events. Jess looked around herself and found that she liked Kendall's house immediately. It looked like the kind of place you could relax in. 'Lived in' as her mom would say. Every surface was covered with films, CDs and magazines and there was a lovely dresser against one wall with colorful bits of mismatched crockery. The walls were plastered with painting and drawings, some professional and others that were perhaps drawn by Kendall or Katie themselves.

"Hi," Katie said to Kendall, "How was your day?"

"It was great baby sister," he said, planting a kiss on her forehead as she came to stand next to him, "How was yours?"

"Uh," was all she managed because she was already gulping down her apple juice like there was no tomorrow.

"Katie, this is Jess. Jess, this is my charmer of a sister."

Katie smiled and gave Jess a wink. She only grimaced at what her brother said and continued drinking.

"Oh, hi Jess," Kendall mimicked, "I'm Katie. So _pleased_ to meet you. I _would_ look at you, but then you are my brother's friend so why bother? You're far too immature to be _my_ friend and you're probably stupid. Nothing you have to say will be of the slightest interest to me. I am your superior in every respect and everything I say, no _think_, will be over your head because I am a genius."

"Took the words right out of my mouth big brother."

"Katie, manners," a woman said as she walked into the room, "You don't talk to people like that, do you sweetie?"

"Kendall said it, not me!" she proclaimed.

Kendall's mouth twitched. He almost laughed but he stopped himself. The lady who had walked in then spotted Jess sitting at the table. "Oh hi!" she exclaimed, "You must be Jess! Kendall's told me so much about you!" The woman embraced Jess and Jess presumed that this was Kendall's mother. "Mom, cut it out!" Kendall said in embarrassment.

"Sorry sweetie, I'm just a bit excited," Kendall's mom confessed, "Kendall rarely brings girls home to see me."

This time, Kendall was the one blushing for once. "No mom, I bring girls home." He said with his eyes wide, "Tons..."

Katie started laughing hysterically and she patter he brother on the back. "Good luck." She then walked out of the kitchen, probably to play on the games console.

"I'm Jennifer by the way," Kendall's mom announced.

"And this is where we leave," Kendall said, "Bye mom."

Kendall grabbed Jess' hand and led her away from the kitchen and into the house. He led her all the way upstairs and into his room. "Sorry, it's a little messy, I forgot to tidy up."

"It's cool." Jess said as she looked around. His room was filled with lots of posters, school books, photos and trophies. There was one thing that caught her eye though, "Hey Kendall, I didn't know you played guitar."

"Oh right," Kendall said, slightly embarrassed. The guys knew he played guitar but they never questioned him about it, playing guitar was something I liked to do by himself.

"Play for me?" Jess asked. Kendall picked up his guitar and nervously began to play.

**_She's frequently flawless and one of a kind,_**

**_This fallen angel drives you out of your mind._**

**_She's the dreamer beneath you and you ought to know,_**

**_She's that special girl and you can't let her go._**

**_The gift you are given is kindness and grace,_**

**_But each time you fall for her beautiful face._**

**_Stop looking for light when she's standing right there,_**

**_Let in the sun, watch it shine through her hair._**

**_Look into your heart, just make a start._**

**_You already knew – she's the one for you._**

**_Put your damaged beauty in a silent place,_**

**_There's a perfect love waiting, get back in the race._**

**_Shout out to her and jump into the pool,_**

**_This time remember: don't drown like a fool._**

**_Look into your heart, just make a start._**

**_You already knew – she's the one for you._**

"Wow Kendall," Jess gasped breathlessly, "That was beautiful. I didn't know you could sing either."

"Yeah, well," Kendall responded, "There's a lot of stuff you don't know about me."

"So, you inspired the song?" Jess asked.

_You._

"Er, there's this girl..." Kendall quickly replied.

"Oh, well she must be wonderful for you to write a song about her like that." by now, Jess and Kendall were both sitting next to each other on his bed. Kendall turned to face her and for the second time that week, their lips were centimeters apart.

"Yeah, she is."

**To Be Continued...**

* * *

**Okay, so that was for all the Team Kendall fans out there. Most of my readers are either Team Kendall or Team Logan so the story might be heading in either of those directions. However, if you want someone else to end up with Jess, do let me know when you review! Thank you! I'll update as soon as I can!**


	12. Cosmic Kiss and Screen Snacks

**Okay, so sorry that I haven't updated in a couple of days but I had to keep you guys in suspense**!

**xChaseluv223LabRats - it seems like everyone's Team Logan now and I'll probably regret posting this chapter so please don't kill me but it'll be alright in the end! Yeah, James and Ally should really end up together. **

**SuperSillyStories - Yeah, I didn't know anything about disclaimers either but apparently you do. I did one just to be on the safe side. AW I KNOW, CUTE RIGHT? Wanna be Team Kendall now? Hopefully, you're like me and can't decide whether Kendall or Logan should end up with her. Over the next few chapters you might be able to guess where I'm going with this. Yeah, Katie a terror but she's a cutie.**

**starcommand - OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG YOU'LL HAVE TO FIND IT! they are quite the cute couple aren't they? if you're Team Kendall then I'm sure you'll love this particular chapter. If you like it, make sure to leave me a nice long lovely review!**

**Guest - OH NO OH NO OH NO boo Kendall? You're not going to approve of this one then. Just be patient and I'll try and bring you food for your Logan feels.**

**Okay, so please don't kill me for this but this is my way of making the story longer. Trust me on this one guys.**

* * *

_"Oh, well she must be wonderful for you to write a song about her like that." by now, Jess and Kendall were both sitting next to each other on his bed. Kendall turned to face her and for the second time that week, their lips were centimeters apart._

_"Yeah, she is."_

Kendall gingerly leaned his face towards her and Jess moved towards him and they banged noses. "Oops," he laughed as he tried to play it cool. He then leaned in again...

"Hey Kendall! We're going to the movies, want to –" James was cut short as he entered the room and he saw what was happening. The pair quickly sprang apart and Jess felt a sense of déjà vu. Why did this always happen to her? Logan and Carlos filed into the room close behind James and realized what they'd walked in on (well, Logan did). Logan pretended to be shocked but he was celebrating inside because yet again Kendall hadn't been able to kiss Jess.

Everyone in the room fell silent for what felt like forever. Nobody made any movement or sound and the only thing you could hear were the hearts of five teenagers beating loudly into their chests. Kendall felt extremely aggravated that his friends had burst in on his moment and now they weren't going to leave? Surely they understood that the right thing to do would be to leave so that he and Jess could continue where they left off. He just sang to her for crying out loud! He rarely sang in front of anyone so that had to mean something, right?

"So, you're going to the movies?" Jess asked awkwardly, trying to break the silence. She felt extremely awkward that yet another near kiss experience had been ruined. She was becoming rather frustrated with it in fact. Was this life's way of punishing her for not eating her vegetables when she was six?

"Yeah," Carlos answered, "We were wondering if Kendall wanted to come. Ally was going to invite you and then we were all going to go together."

"That sounds great," Jess smiled through gritted teeth. She then softened her face, remembering that Carlos was too innocent to realize what he'd interrupted, "Can you guys just give me and Kendall a minute and then we'll meet you downstairs?"

Both Logan and James, who seemed to have had their heads in the clouds, snapped out of it as Jess broke the silence. They politely nodded even though they wanted to do no such thing and they quietly left the room to go downstairs. Carlos followed behind them but not before turning back and smiling at Kendall and giving him the thumbs up.

Now, Kendall was never really known to be a planner – he was spontaneous and did things at the spur of the moment. Seizing the opportunity with both hands, he cupped his hands around Jess' face and kissed her.

At first it was a shock for Jess, feeling soft lips on her own and all she could think of was what should she do with her hands? She ran her fingers through his hair and it felt gorgeous and soft. She lost herself in the kiss and she could feel Kendall doing the same. She felt his arms wrap around her waist. She kissed him with full force, not caring if anyone else was in the room. It was a lovely soft, deep kiss and this time their noses didn't bang. It was perfect – cosmic. Jess found herself wanting it to go on forever.

Logan had appeared at the door to ask the pair if they wanted to see anything in particular but what he saw in front of him shocked him. He stopped dead in his tracks, unable to move for fear of doing the wrong thing. _Great, that's it then_, Logan sighed in his head, _Kendall's won._ Logan had thought he was still in with a chance but _obviously_ not.

After a moment or two, Logan couldn't take it anymore. He sighed sadly and turned away to head back downstairs. He'd had a feeling that Jess liked Kendall and he'd known that it would only be a matter of time. As long as Jess was happy though, he was happy.

"Wow," Kendall said happily, pulling back after a few minutes, "You're a good kisser."

Jess blushed shyly. Why was she always blushing? As she desperately tried to catch her breath, Jess stared at Kendall. He wasn't your average, tall, handsome, blonde dream guy, although he was all of those things to be honest. No, there was something else about him. He looked interesting – intelligent. He was still staring at Jess' lips and she felt herself turning another shade of pink.

She slowly stood up and started playing with her hair. When she looked at Kendall again, he was smiling, as though he was amused. Was it because he felt her embarrassment and was laughing at her? He probably had this effect on loads of girls.

Kendall stood up cautiously, as if trying to figure out his next move. Finally, he asked "Do you want anything else to drink before we go?"

"Nguyh er," Jess mumbled incoherently. Kendall chuckled at Jess' sudden shyness and grabbed her hand as he led her out of his room and down the stairs.

* * *

"Is she with you?" the ticket lady at the cinema asked. The group of friends had arrived at the cinema to see Royal Rifle (Carlos' idea, don't ask) and they'd been in the queue for the tickets for ages. It was a school night, who knew there would be so many people out?

Kendall nodded as he looked down at Jess and tried to brave it out. "Six, please." Jess turned away and tried to make herself disappear as everybody at the cinema queue stared at her. She tried not to meet anybody's eyes as Kendall argued with the ticket lady.

"Kids, you have to be eighteen to see this film. Did you realize that?"

Kendall nodded, "Yeah."

"Uh huh, and do you have proof of your age?" the lady asked again, looking pointedly at Jess.

"Not on me," Kendall shook his head.

The others could easily pass for eighteen. It was Jess. Even though she'd put some kohl on her eyes and was wearing lipstick, she still barely looked sixteen. Why did she have to be so damn short? She sighed as thought she'd ruined the evening.

"We're eighteen," James said, "Trust me."

The lady at the ticket register looked up from her desk and noticed James. "Jamesie! I didn't notice you! Yes, so that was six tickets?"

James nodded as Kendall handed over the money. "Have a great evening." The girl said as the group made their way into the foyer.

"How do you know her?" Ally asked.

James shuddered, "I don't want to talk about it."

"This is awesome," Carlos exclaimed, as an usherette showed them to their seats.

Jess smiled, "I know. Thanks Kendall."

Kendall had paid top price so that they could all sit upstairs in the private balcony, where there were a small number of plush leather chairs and couches.

"Sit where you like," the usherette said, "It's quiet today."

"Woo hoo!" Carlos yelled.

"Ssh," James laughed.

"So where would madam like to sit?" Kendall asked Jess after the usherette had left. Jess sprawled out in an enormous chair at the back and giggled.

"Come on, this one's my favorite " Kendall said as he sat on a couch on the second and back row. Jess went down and sat beside him. James and Ally filed in the one next to them and Carlos took the armchair in front. Logan sat behind them all; Logan was still slightly pissed at what he'd seen but he decided it would be best not to say anything.

It was amazing: the seats were totally luxurious and it felt like the group of friends were the only people in the cinema having a private viewing. A few minutes later, the lights went down and the trailers started up.

Logan took this as an opportunity to get snacks. He stood up and told them where he was going then gestured with his head that Kendall should join him. "I'm going to go with Logan," Kendall told Jess," I think he's dying to tell me something."

Jess nodded and smiled as she watched him walk away. Kendall followed Logan to the snack bar where Logan took the opportunity to ask Kendall about what had been bugging him since they'd arrived. "So what's going on?"

"Oh, same old same old," Kendall replied, trying to avoid the tone in his voice. He knew exactly what he meant by 'going on'.

"You and Jess," Logan said, "I saw you."

"Oh _that_."

"Yeah that."

A couple of teen girls walked past and eyed up the two boys. They carried on sauntering past and the guys continued their conversation.

"Do you hate me?" Kendall asked.

"No, I could never hate you," Logan sighed, "If Jess likes you then we're all going to have to accept that. It's not going to be easy but I'm sure I'll get used to it."

Logan hated lying to Kendall – _hated_ it. He'd _never_ get used to it Kendall being with Jess, but he had to pretend for Kendall's sake. He didn't want to let some girl get between them, no matter who she was. He looked at the floor and felt himself cower inwardly. He didn't know if Kendall and Jess were an item or anything, and if they were, whether they were keeping it quiet or not. He sighed.

It wasn't like Logan hadn't been expecting this, but this feeling of disappointment wasn't one that he was used to. Logan was a winner: Logan had won all his school competitions from when he was a kid, his hockey team had always won their games and Logan always seemed to win in the end. It wasn't that Logan was big-headed though – he just liked to aim for something knowing he would achieve it. His life had been filled with achievement and this was like his first time at losing.

It sucked.

"I'm sorry; I know how much you like her. The thing is: I really like Jess too," Kendall exhaled noisily. "Why do we always fall for the same girl?"

Logan chuckled, "Because we have good taste."

"Very true."

"No matter what happens though, I respect Jess' decision. I had a feeling it would be you in the end anyway. Friends are supposed to talk about thing – be friends, come what may. I'm not going to go running at the first sign of trouble; I'm here for you and I'm really happy for you." Logan smiled.

"Thanks. That means a lot."

Once Logan and Kendall had retaken their seats in the theater, Jess smiled excitedly up at the two before taking the food out of their hands.

"When the going gets tough..."

"The tough eat ice cream," Ally finished for her. The girls giggled and settled back down with their treats in hand. Kendall tried to sneak a spoon into Jess' ice cream but she wasn't having any of it. Well, more like _he_ wasn't having any of it. Jess was particularly protective over her frozen desserts.

"Come on Jess," Kendall laughed, "I just want a little bit..."

"No!" Jess said, hugging her tub of chocolate chip ice cream defensively.

* * *

**So this chapter was a little on the short side, my apologies. Please leave me a review, I'm eager to hear what you guys have to say. **


	13. Stealing The Cat-Lady's Heart

**So, I'm going to try and update this story every Sunday/Monday from now on because I need to be more consistent with my updates. **

**starcommand: Perfect? You're so sweet. Having a moment with Kendall, don't mind if I do. OMG wowza. I feel sorry for Logan too though, we'll have to do something to remedy that broken heart of his. **

**jessmaslow: OMGOMGOMG okay**

**SuperSillyStories: I'm indecisive too, don't worry. Team Logan or Team Kendal? Tough decision. You have to feel bad for little Logie but then again Kendall deserves her too. Yes, ice cream makes the world go round.**

**Okay, I don't know how many of you are still reading this or whether you've lost interest but if you have time, here's some things I'd like you to check out too:**

**_Change Is Hard _****by ****_AisforAWKWARD_**** is an award winning story, no word of a lie. It's so worth the read so if you have time, check it out. It's mainly about Logan and his story when something terrible happens that changes hus life forever.**

_**Invisible**_** by ****_KendallsCoverGirl13_**** is a completed story so you don't have to worry about updates and it has a sequel coming soon! It's a really cute romance and is worth the read.**

**Anything written by ****_SuperSillyStories_**** is destined to be amazing so just check her out. She's a pretty cool one.**

**Finally, I'm sorry that this A/N was rather long but please also take a look at my other story ****_Beautiful _****which is about Katie and how she deals with bullying.**

**ON WITH THE STORY**

* * *

"So are you and Kendall, like, an _item_ now?" Ally asked. It was a Wednesday morning and Ally was starting her _second_ day at Minnesota High. It seemed like an age since her first day – so much had happened in the past twenty-four hours that it made their heads spin. Ally and Jess had decided to walk to school together, just like they used to when they were ten. It was the perfect opportunity for the two friends to talk privately without the guys interrupting or listening in.

Of course, Jess had filled Ally in on all the events of the day after they'd gotten back from the theater.

"I don't know," Jess answered honestly, looking at her shoes, "I mean... it was just a kiss. It doesn't mean anything."

Ally stopped walking and paused for a breath.

"Oh, my dear Jess, so naive!" she sighed dramatically, "A kiss means so many things! It means that he wants to be more than friends, it means that cares about you, it means that he wants to share your ice cream!"

"I'm not sure about the last part," Jess giggled.

"Stop changing the subject!" Ally laughed, "Kendall kissed you. Kendall. Kissed. You."

Jess couldn't help the grin that was forming on her face as they walked through the school gates. Kendall had kissed her. It was all so exciting. She's known the guys for a little over a month and yet she felt so close to all of them.

It was all moving too fast though. Yes, maybe it had been a year since... the incident, but that didn't make it hurt any less. In fact, tomorrow would be _exactly_ a year since it happened. A year is 12 months of your life, 52 weeks of your life, 365 days of your life and it goes so quickly. It had taken Jess most of that time to forgive her mother. For a while, Jess lived with her gran, Grandma Heather. It was never meant to be a permanent thing though.

No one knew that it was actually Jess' mom's fault that her father had died. The whole situation was a bit of a blur to everyone involved and the only people who truly knew the truth were Jess and her mom. Jess had told the police that there was no reason for her ex's sudden attack. It was a lie though. It was all a lie. Of course Jess knew that it was all her mum's fault. She hated her. She hated her! But more than anything else, she didn't want to lose her. She'd lost her dad; she couldn't be able to handle losing her mother too.

Losing her dad had crushed her, left her without hope. She didn't want to go back to being that girl – the girl without a father. She was Jess, the girl who finally had her friend back and her life under control.

A lot of slow progress later, Jess had moved back in with her mum and things were finally looking better. But what if it happened again? There was no way of stopping history from repeating itself. If Jess and Kendall really did become an item, would her mother try anything?

Jess didn't even want to think about it.

Ally could almost sense what Jess was thinking about and she put a comforting arm around her. "Come on," she smiled, "We don't need to be late."

Smiling appreciatively, Jess nodded and the girls walked along the corridor to their first class of the day – gym.

Jess remembered wearing her first cheer uniform when she was seven, when she was young and flat-chested. She remembered bouncing up and down, trying to dance but failing miserably and forming pyramids. Now – dance was the thing she best at out of them all, she was always at the top of the pyramid and finally she had her best friend back to cheer with her.

She examined her nails. They were a bit chipped, which was slightly unusual for her but who liked girls with perfect nails? Those girls were too full of precision and perfection for anyone.

It was nice to go to cheer practice with Ally – the girls were less likely to pick on Jess this way – and it was comforting to have her best friend by her side. This was priceless, the look on the other girl's faces as they watched the two old friends saunter in together. What Jess would do to have a picture of that moment, that moment in which she could _feel _the jealousy radiating off of them, they would never know...

"Wow, it's like I haven't been here for years." Ally giggled to Jess.

This time there were no snarky comments, snorts or rolled eyes at this statement, nothing.

The thing was though, the only reason Jess took up cheer was for the confidence. To dance, you needed confidence and it was the one thing that Jess needed most. As Jess straightened her skirt, she turned to Ally and said, "Do I look _girly_?"

Ally laughed, "Yes. Extremely,"

Jess groaned.

"Why is it such a big deal if you look girly?"

"I don't want to look girly because I'm not a cheerleader," Jess gestured to the other girls, "This isn't me. I'm not willing to wear tight-fitting clothes and lipstick to impress a load of guys into wanting to date me."

_No, all four of them wanted to anyway,_ Ally thought.

"I look at the way cheerleaders act from the outside and I've realized that cheer-leading doesn't give you confidence at all, it just crushes your self-respect."

One of the blondes from the group of main cheerleaders sauntered past. This girl was one of your stereo-typical cheerleaders: fake hair, fake smile, fake eyelashes... the lot. She smirked at Jess and said, "Nice pep talk, freak."

"Watch your mouth," Ally glared.

"_Ooh_, someone's getting confident." The bimbo retorted sharply.

"Yeah, I'm confident, but in myself – not in my skill in picking up guys in the hope they'll pay me for some action. I'm not like all of you, and neither is Jess." The rage was steaming off of Ally, she was hot with anger. This kettle was at boiling point.

"Alright, keep your lid on." The girl laughed sarcastically.

"I'll keep my lid on if you keep your legs closed –"

A firm hand placed itself onto Ally's shoulder, interrupting the girl's outburst. "Come on Ally, they're not worth it."

"You're right." Ally glared one last time at the giggling group of girls before stalking away with Jess in tow.

Once out on the field, Jess turned to her friend, "You need to keep your anger in check!" she laughed. Jess stretched out her legs and smiled up at her friend. She shouldn't have found it funny, but she loved how Ally had stuck up for her.

"I'm sorry! It's just, girls like that make me _so_ mad..."

"Come on, we need to warm up."

The girls stretched a bit in silence. It was a comfortable silence though, one of those silences that could only be shared with your best friend. Jess had missed these for so long and Ally being back in Minnesota was still a new thing. Everything was still new though, even her friendship with the guys.

It was weird, how quickly she settled into the friendship with them. They were all a bit too keen to get to know Jess.

Jess snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed Ally staring dreamily at a classroom window on the third floor. She chuckled before asking, "You okay there Ally-gator?"

"Uh huh," Ally replied half-heartedly.

"Let me guess, James is up there?"

"Maybe," Ally giggled.

"You're ridiculous Ally, stop flirting and just tell him you like him. It can't be that hard." Jess told her friend.

"Well, have you ever told the guy you like that you like him?" Ally asked with her arms folded sternly across her chest.

"No," Jess sighed. She then looked up through her eyebrows, "How can I do that when I'm into girls."

If Ally had been drinking at that moment, she would've done a spit take.

"Really?!"

"No," Jess laughed, "I just don't really like anyone right now."

"Apart from Kendall, who kissed you? You can't ignore that."

Jess sighed. Of course, Ally was right. She couldn't just ignore the fact that Kendall had kissed her. Maybe it was time to face the reality that, whether she wanted to or not, she had to move into a new relationship before she ended up like some old cat-lady waiting on the pavement on the corner of the street, feeding the birds.

* * *

English class, again. This time two weeks ago, Carlos and James were sitting in the exact same seats, in the exact same class, watching the exact same girls warm-up for their gym class. The only difference was: this time two weeks ago, Carlos was still in the chance of winning Jess' heart.

He kind of understood in a way that Jess was Kendall's now. Kendall and James had both been a bit concerned for Logan who'd seemed crushed at the idea of losing the girl he liked, and James seemed to have taken a liking to Ally anyway, but what about him? Carlos felt really forgotten, like he didn't matter anymore. He didn't want to say anything though – he knew there were other things going on. Carlos had a feeling that Logan didn't visit Jess that Saturday to help with a science project, and there had to be something more to their little chat on Monday night.

It sucked. Carlos never ended up with the girl.

Carlos turned to his right to see James waving out of the window at someone down on the field. "Who are you waving to?" he asked curiously.

There was no reply as James continued waving.

"James, who is it?" Carlos persisted.

"Ally." James replied simply before smiling down at the brown-haired beauty.

"You really like her, don't you?" Carlos laughed.

"Well yeah," James said, "She's pretty and cool and fun and great and hot and smart and amazing and hot and adorable and hot and a great friend."

"Are you ever going to ask her out?"

James laughed, "Oh Carlos, you don't just _ask_ a girl out – you have to _show_ a girl you want her. You know, make her feel special so that she falls head over heels for you. Trust me Carlos; I know what to do when it comes to girls. I'm the Diamond, this comes naturally to me."

Carlos thought about this for a moment. It was wrong, what he was thinking, it was so wrong. Maybe though, James would be able to show him how to win Jess. She and Kendall hadn't made it official yet so there was still time. James was pretty suave; Carlos would give them that, so maybe he could teach Carlos the tricks of the trade.

"So James," Carlos began, "How _do_ you get her to fall for you?"

"Well, girls and flirting isn't everyone's forte – it is a skill you have to master. Of course, the gift of woman comes naturally to me. To start with, I would make contact with her whenever possible. You know, graze my hand past her own, and brush my fingertips across her back... that kind of stuff. I'd do it casually though, just enough to get her wondering. Then, after a little while, I'd sing to her in front of a crowd to win her heart. I'd ask her on a date, I'd be the perfect gentleman ..."

Carlos began to drown out on what James was saying and he managed to become lost in his own thoughts. It was really wrong to try and steal Jess away from Kendall, but it wasn't like they were exclusive. The guys always thought that Carlos was the innocent one, the one who didn't know how to handle girls. They were kind of right too, Carlos didn't know the first thing about getting a giro to like him. But he was willing to try. Perhaps he could win Jess over.

Perhaps he could be the one to win her heart.

* * *

**So that was chapter 13. Please leave me a nice little review or favorite/follow because it means more than you can imagine!**

**Remember to check out:**

**_Change Is Hard _****by ****_AisforAWKWARD_**

**_Invisible by KendallsCoverGirl13_**

**_SuperSillyStories_**

**_Beautiful _****by ****_PerfectPiranha_**

**Thank you and please review! :)**


	14. Letters From The Living

**I am so bad at updating frequently. Ugh, I feel terrible! Anyway, I'm on my Easter Break now so I should (hopefully) be updating more. I had a bit of writer's block with this story but I have a fabulous idea now. Well, I think it's fabulous but it probably won't turn out that way. I apologize for any spelling and grammar mistakes because there usually are.**

**SuperSillyStories: Carlos needs to step into the limelight a bit and poor little James doesn't even realize what he's told him. **

**One review last time. Dear me I guess my lack of updating has scared you all away. I'M SORRY, PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Please review, they make my day and don't forget to follow/favorite/tell your friends/make me food. Preferably the first three although I wouldn't mind it if you made me food either. Anyway, enjoy!**

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The week soon came to an end. After a few days of Carlos trying to subtly make Jess fall for him, of Logan trying to get over the fact that he'd blew his chances, of James and Ally pretending to be nothing more than friends and a load of awkward silences between Jess and Kendall – the weekend couldn't have come sooner.

Last period on Friday seemed to last forever until the bell eventually rang. And this was exciting for everyone, Spring Break had finally arrived which meant everyone could relax for a whole week. Everyone wanted time off for different reasons: James wanted to catch some rays and go surfing; Ally wanted to go to the beach too so that she could tan, relax and scout for boys (she was still in denial about her feelings for a certain Diamond); Carlos wanted to take some time to hang out with Jess, hoping that maybe she might like him as more than a friend; Logan wanted to catch up on some light reading (if you consider a six-hundred page book 'light').

As for Kendall, he would've been happy to spend a bucket load of time with Jess but certain situations just couldn't prevent themselves. On the Thursday before spring break, merely three days after his kiss with Jess, Kendall had received a letter. Yes, a letter. Kendall's grandfather had written to him, seeing he could never get to grips with that 'World Wide Spider Net'. In his letter, Kendall's grandfather had asked if Kendall and Katie wanted to visit him at his house in Santa Barbara.

Of course, Katie was really excited. She hadn't seen her grandfather since she was around four and she missed him a lot. Even though Kendall was fulfilling the role of the fatherly figure in her life well, she was still missing that paternal guidance. When she was younger, she was extremely close to her grandfather but her grandfather had moved out of Minnesota after her father had died. The whole of Minnesota just reminded the old man too much of his son and he made the heart-breaking decision of cutting his ties with his son's family.

Kendall read and reread the letter at least a thousand times over. His grandfather had apologized for leaving and explained why he did seeing as Kendall was now old enough to understand. His grandfather also asked after their mother to see how she was holding up and finally, he invited them down to Santa Barbara for the week to stay with him in his rather large house. The letter was signed, '_Love Grandpa Francis.'_

Grandpa Francis had a rather large house. Kendall's grandfather was in the entertainment business back in the 1950's and he did a lot of acting in films and commercials. He retired after his wife had Kendall's dad and they both settled in Minnesota. Kendall's grandmother, Marie, died in a car crash when Kendall's father was young so Grandpa Francis looked after his son all on his own. His son was all he had. Grandpa Francis locked most of his money away and tried to live a normal life but after leaving he decided to buy a rather large house in California.

Rather large being an understatement.

This invitation though had taken Kendall by surprise. He hadn't heard for his grandfather in years (not including birthday cards and Christmas presents) and he wasn't too sure why his grandfather was suddenly contacting him and Katie now. However, Kendall was now stuck in a dilemma.

Kendall didn't want to disappoint Katie as she'd been super excited about going to Santa Barbara and seeing Grandpa Francis ever since the letter arrived. On the other hand, Kendall had been looking forward to spending his break with Jess. He hadn't officially asked her out yet or made her his girlfriend but he needed too and quickly, before someone found out his little secret.

See, Kendall had been kind of living a lie for the past few days. Yes, Kendall and Jess kissed and the guys all knew this meant to back off but it wasn't really fair. Kendall was always one for fairness and he hated lying to his friends. The truth was: Jess hadn't kissed Kendall first which meant that Kendall couldn't really ask her out. It had been stressing him out every night since their shared kiss until it finally hit him. He didn't _need_ to tell the guys what really happened as long as he didn't ask her out officially. All Kendall had to do was wait for Jess to kiss him first and then he could actually say "Will you be my girlfriend?" As long as those five words didn't leave his lips before that happened, he'd be safe. He wouldn't be breaking the rules and he wouldn't be cheating. There was nothing stopping the other guys from chasing after Jess so it really wasn't his fault.

Now though, Kendall could see his plan falling apart. If he couldn't spend time with Jess, how was he going to get her to kiss him? Did his grandfather want him to be single? Did his grandfather want him to be sitting all alone in Santa Barbara while his friends made a move on his potential girlfriend?

And then it hit him.

* * *

"I can't believe you did that!" Jess laughed as James finished telling the story of how he got Carlos out of detention one time. The story basically involved a gallon of chocolate milk, tree hats and James showing his ass against a classroom window.

"It's true," Carlos chuckled, "Mr Falcon was so shocked that he didn't even notice me leave. It was great!

Ally chuckled, leaned back on the sofa and glance down at James' back. "I don't see why he was so shocked; you can clearly see that James has an ugly ass."

"THAT'S IT!" James shouted as stretched out his arms and grabbed Ally. He then proceeded to tickled her until she couldn't breathe. Jess, Logan and Carlos watched on in amusement until it got to the point where you could no longer tell if Ally was laughing or crying.

As the laughter died down Jess asked, "Any sign of Kendall yet?"

"No," Logan sighed, "All he told me was that he has something to talk to us about."

After realizing exactly how he was going to solve his problem, Kendall had called Logan and asked if he could get everybody to meet at his house. Exactly twenty-three minutes later, everyone was sitting in Logan's living room, just waiting for Kendall to arrive. Logan's mom kept making appearances in the kitchen doorway asking if Logan's 'little friends' were hungry, did they want cookies and were they staying for dinner. Logan decided it was best to avoid his mom's terrible cooking and just told her they'd order a pizza once Kendall had arrived.

A ring of the doorbell signaled Kendall's arrival. Logan quickly scrambled to his feet and headed towards the door. He opened it with great force and invited Kendall in. Kendall kicked off his shoes and went into the kitchen to politely say hello to Mrs Mitchell. After Mrs Mitchell had let him out of her forcefully-tight, hard-to-breathe hug, Kendall followed Logan into the living room where everyone was anxiously waiting to hear what he had to say.

A chorus of greetings filled the air and Kendall replied with, "Hey." He then walked over to sit next to Jess, on the opposite side of her to Logan.

"So," Jess asked as she turned to face him, "What did you want to talk to us about?"

"Well," he said looking around nervously before settling his eyes on James and Carlos, "You remember Grandpa Francis, right?"

The two boys nodded.

"Well, I got a letter in the post the other day saying that Grandpa Francis –"

"Hold on a minute; who's Grandpa Francis?" Logan interrupted.

"He's Kendall's grandpa." James answered for his friend, "Kendall hasn't seen him since he was nine."

"Yeah, not since his dad –" Carlo began.

"Stop!" Kendall said holding up his hands, "Let me finish. Anyway, I got a letter yesterday about Grandpa Francis. It basically said that he –"

"Kendall!" Carlos cried out before he reached across to hug his friend, "I'm so sorry! I know how much he meant to you."

"What?"

"Poor Grandpa Francis... I know how you feel Kendall; it was horrible when my grandpa died." He rubbed Kendall's back soothingly.

"Carlos! No! Grandpa Francis didn't die! He's the one who sent the letter in the first place!" Kendall said with wide-eyes.

"Oh," Carlos said as he shrunk back, "My bad."

"What did he say?" Jess asked in an attempt to stop any further interruptions. The group of friends all leaned their ears towards Kendall.

"I got this letter yesterday from Grandpa Francis and he was saying things about not wanting to leave but he had to and a load of other excuses. I kind of expected that part. But then, at the end, he asked me if Katie and I wanted to spend Spring Break with him at his huge house in Santa Barbara."

Different people in the room responded to this great news in different ways: James smiled and reached across to Kendall for a high-five; Ally giggled excitedly, knowing that with Kendall gone, she'd be able to spend more girl time with Jess; Carlos grinned when he realized that he'll have Jess all to himself; Logan fake-smiled but inwardly groaned because now he'd have to spend time with Jess, knowing he couldn't have her.

As for Jess, she smiled but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. She was really happy that Kendall was off with his sister to see his family and spend time in a huge house in the sun but she'd be left with nothing to do. Sure, she'd have Ally to keep her company but she'd been hoping she could spend some time with Kendall to get to know him more. She'd even been hoping that he might ask her out.

Kendall couldn't help but notice Jess' slight disappointment and decided to give them all the _really _good news now.

"So, I gave Grandpa a call and when he picked up – by the way, he took forever to come to the phone, I think he only has one in the whole house – I asked him if he'd do me a favor " Kendall waggled his eyebrows before grinning like a madman and saying, "How would you guys like to go to Santa Barbara with me?"

Jess sighed and zipped up her suitcase. She'd finished most of her packing the night before, but a few things had to wait until the morning. She glanced at the clock and, on seeing that it was only nine thirty, laid back down on her duvet. Sure, she was excited to be going away for the week with her friends but she had a feeling that she wouldn't get as much time with Kendall as she was hoping for. Still, a week away in the sun would do her the world of good, as her mother had said.

A knock on the door broke her out of her thoughts and she was surprised to see Logan standing there. "Hey," he said as he stepped inside the room.

"Hey," Jess mirrored, not bothering to get up off of her bed. Logan shuffled on his feet nervously before walking up to her and asking, "Do you mind?"

Jess glanced over to see that he was gesturing towards the bed. "Be my guest," she said.

Logan lay down on top of the duvet next to her. The pair stayed like that for a while, just staring at the ceiling. Then, Logan broke the silence and asked, "Is everything okay?"

She sighed. "I guess so."

Turning his head to look at her, Logan asked, "Why do you only 'guess so'? Why don't you 'know so'?"

"I'm just worried," she sighed, "I'm worried about my mom, I'm worried about Ally and I'm worried about Kendall. Logan, maybe going to Santa Barbara for the week isn't such a good idea. I don't really want to leave my mom in the house on her own in case she throws a house party or elopes with some guy in Vegas. And then there's Ally who doesn't even realise how much she likes James or at least, if she does, she's hiding it. Even Carlos can tell that James and Ally really like each other but she can be really stubborn sometimes."

"Yeah," Logan chuckled, "I keep trying to get James to ask her out but he's all 'no, I need to _show_ her'." Jess laughed and Logan's uncanny impersonation of James, "But what about Kendall?"

"Well," Jess began, "Honestly? I just don't want to screw things up. There was a little incident that happened a couple of nights ago and I think he actually likes me. Ally thinks I should just go for it but I just don't know."

The raven-haired boy nodded sympathetically.

"Logan, I don't know if Kendall told but we kissed the other night and it just made my head go all fuzzy. I don't know whether to go for this or not. What do you think Logan?"

"Er," Logan stuttered, "It's not really for me to interfere. If you like Kendall then you need to go for it. I don't see any reason why you two shouldn't be happy together. I think you two are perfect for each other."

Jess turned on her side. "What about you Dr Romance, how come you haven't got a girlfriend?"

"Well," Logan said as he stared back up at the ceiling. "It's complicated."

"How complicated?"

"Very."

"So I'm guessing that there _is _a girl." Jess said excitedly, sitting up and leaning on her arm.

"Yeah," Logan replied without tearing his eyes away from the ceiling, "She's amazing."

"Well ask her amazing little ass out already!"

"I can't, she belongs to someone else."

"That's a shame," Jess frowned, "But if she's this amazing, isn't she worth fighting for? You should let this girl know how you feel, because you'll never know if she likes you back unless you try."

"I don't think that's a good idea. If I tell her, it'll mess quite a few friendships up and I don't want to risk it. As long as she's happy, I don't mind."

"That's really sweet Logan," Jess smiled at him, "I'm sure any girl will be lucky to have you."

"Hmm," Logan mumbled, not really concentrating on what she was saying anymore and instead being deep in thought.

"Come on, we better get going." Jess told him as she climbed across him towards the door. Logan scrambled onto to his feet and followed her out of the room. The two friends strode down the stairs, opened the front door and stepped into the sunshine together.

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**I'm sorry about the terrible ending but I just didn't know where to finish it. The next chapter will be filled with their lovely adventures in Santa Barbara. **

**Anyways, please leave me a nice little review. Or a nice long review. Or a bad little review. Or a bad long review. Preferably not the last one. Reviews are very much appreciated though. They're like my drugs.**


	15. A House As Huge As A Hotel

**I had real trouble writing this chapter and I don't know why. I apologize if it's not quite up to scratch but I tried.**

**paumichyy: Well, the next couple of chapters will be all about it so keep on reading!**

**SuperSillyStories: It was meant to be a funny moment, I know. I kind of suck at humor. It's not bad if you thought it was funny because it was supposed to be. Yeah I know, James get your ass in gear and ask her!**

**RusherSchmidster96: Here's your update!**

**Prof-the F. R. I. E. N. D. S fanatic: Team Kendall? Hmm, see I have a lot of both Team Kendall viewers and Team Logan viewers and I'm trying my best to please them both. No, it wouldn't be wrong to review every single other chapter too - be my guest! And no it wasn't a coincidence that I mentioned FRIENDS in chapter five, I watch that show too much for my own good too. **

**Okay, ON WE GO**

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Jess looked out of the window of the airplane feeling truly grateful that she could go on vacation away from home. There was a limit to the amount of time she was going to allow herself to spend with her mom. Her mom had messed things up once and she had a feeling that it would only be a matter of time before she did it again. Getting away from her home and Minnesota was the break that Jess needed and she was glad to be surrounded by friends.

"Are we there yet?" Carlos asked her from his seat behind.

"We'll be landing soon." Ally told him as she examined her perfectly manicured nails. It was funny to Jess how she and Ally had ever became friends in the first place. Jess couldn't stand shallow people and yet here she was, sitting next to the biggest superficial perfectionist in the bunch. If you didn't count James.

Ally was always the one for flicking through fashion magazines, talking about celebrity gossip or buying new cosmetics. She was almost taking James' crown away for being the most self-absorbed person in the group. Well, more like taking away the tiara.

But she was deep too, when she felt like it which was sometimes, fading into the category of rarely. Or something more like never. She was a good friend to Jess though, the best friend she'd ever had and Jess really appreciated the fact that Ally had always been there for her, even when she moved away. And even then she came back, like a boomerang, walking straight back into Jess' everyday life. It was funny how life threw these little curve balls.

The seating arrangements on the plane had caused minor arguments but everyone had eventually sat down in their allocated seats. Carlos had taken a window seat with James beside him, Jess had taken the seat in front of Carlos with Ally next to her and Kendall and Logan had reluctantly sat in front of them all. Katie was sitting next to a girl that was similar to her own age, although she didn't seem to be enjoying it very well. She'd been pouting since the plane journey started although the video games were distracting her from the sugary sweet girl next to her. Jess leaned forwards to see what Logan and Kendall were up to. She wasn't really too surprised at what she saw.

Kendall had fallen asleep with his head resting against the plane window. He looked completely out of it and was snoring ever so lightly. Logan looked rested too but definitely not asleep, he couldn't really sleep well if he was sitting in an airplane seat. Kendall had said that the seats at Grandpa Francis' house were especially comfy though so at least that was something to look forward to. He sighed softly as he lifted his head and turned it around to see what Jess was doing. The fact that she was already inches away from his face took him by surprise.

"Jess!" Logan squeaked. Jess chuckled softly.

"Hi," she whispered, "Careful Logan, you might wake up sleeping beauty over here." She gestured to Kendall.

Logan laughed in turn.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts; we'll be landing in Santa Barbara shortly." The pilot called out over the intercom.

Everyone followed the pilot's instructions as the plane began to descend. Logan had the painful job of gently shaking Kendall awake, that being painful because Kendall had once attacked James after he'd woke him up before he'd finished sleeping. James found himself in even more pain when he explained to Kendall that he'd only woke him up to tell him that he'd run out of hair products.

Jess sank back in her seat as she felt the plane accelerating downwards. They were finally landing. From her seat, she looked out of the window and reminded herself that she was in Santa Barbara. Here, she'd have no boundaries and she could just enjoy herself. Here, she was free.

Before they knew it, the group of friends found themselves landing on a small runway. Suddenly, they were all too eager to get off the plane and start the vacation. After a short trek to find their way round, the group of friends found themselves in the airport.

"Okay, so my Grandpa said that he'd have Jeffrey come to pick us up." Kendall said, seemingly less grouchy than when he'd first woken up, as they walked to the luggage pick up area.

"Who's Jeffrey?" Ally asked, thinking that perhaps Grandpa Francis had another unknown grandson that was rich and available. She was disappointed by Kendall's answer.

"Jeffrey's my Grandpa's British chauffeur butler guy." Kendall said reluctantly, hoping that a certain ten-year-old girl wouldn't be listening to the conversation.

"Grandpa has a British butler?" Katie asked enthusiastically. This was obviously the first time she'd heard of it, "I am going to have _so_ much fun messing with this guy..."

"No, Katie, you're not." Kendall said firmly.

"But Kenny –"

"Katie, you need to be on your best behavior when we get there. I promised mom I'd keep you out of trouble and I'd like to keep that promise." Kendall told his sister. "And stop calling me 'Kenny'."

"But Kenny –" James teased.

"That goes for you too, Diamond."

Logan and Carlos began grabbing the luggage to put on the luggage carts provided. Once they'd gotten their luggage sorted, they walked outside. Everyone admired the beautiful surroundings, realizing that it was a lot different to Minnesota. The fact that it was warmer was the main difference and everyone felt it immediately. Sweaters and coats were ripped off and chucked into a pile on top of the luggage.

Ally got out a pair of Armani sunglasses and slid them onto her face, pouting slightly as if there were cameras ready to snap up her picture. "Kendall, what time is Jeffrey going to pick us up?"

"Now." Kendall laughed. A limo the size of a circus tent (okay that was a lie, but Carlos was thinking it) pulled up in front of them all. Seven grins formed as the driver stepped out onto the curb.

"Good afternoon, my name is Jeffrey. I take it that you are young Mr Knight and his comrades?" the guy said in his classy British accent as he brushed some dust off of his collar rather subtly.

The group of seven nodded eagerly. "Very well," Jeffrey continued, "There will be short journey to Mr Francis Knight's residence. Mr Knight says that you are welcome to enjoy yourselves whilst in the vehicle but I am to remind you that any alcohol found is not to be touched."

"Spoil sport," James mumbled.

"Thank you," Kendall smiled as Jeffrey opened the sliding door. The group clambered inside whilst Jeffrey had to the difficult task of shoving the suitcases into the trunk. After he'd finished squeezing Ally's make-up multi-compartment wonder box into the trunk, he climber back into the driver's seat and pulled away from the curb.

* * *

The gang climbed out of the limo one by one and proceeded to stand in front of the vehicle in one long line. All seven mouths were agape as Jeffrey pushed the passenger door closed behind them. They stared longingly at the huge house shown before them. The house was painted white and had over-hanging palm trees casting shadows along the walls. Pretty little lights dangled across the edge of the roof, illuminating the house with a golden glow. It was truly breath-taking and even Kendall, who'd been expecting something like this anyway, let out a content sigh. It was perfect.

"Ladies and gentleman, I will show you to your rooms. Please DO NOT touch anything unless you'd be willing to pay for any damage you might cause. You will need to dress formally for dinner this evening at which you will meet Mr Knight." Jeffrey said without flinching, "Now, if you could follow me please."

Following Jeffrey inside the house, everybody gasped. The house that had seemed large on the outside was even bigger on the inside. The hall they were standing in was grand and the floors were carpeted. The walls around them were white and there was a huge crystal chandelier suspended from the ceiling.

"Oh my," Jess gasped.

"So this is how the world's rich and famous live..." Logan mumbled as he looked around him.

"I guess my dream of being famous isn't so stupid _now_ is it Logan?" James laughed.

They were all shown to their rooms. Most of the rooms had large king-sized beds that looked almost as good as the romantic suites in a holiday hotel. But this was no hotel; this was the home of Kendall's grandfather. How had Kendall's mom managed to keep this away from him and his sister? He knew that his grandfather was comfortably wealthy and he realized that a lot of this houses in Santa Barbara were big but this was so much more than he could have imagined.

The rooms were organised accordingly: Kendall and Logan were going to room together (although they weren't too keen on sharing a bed), James and Carlos were going to become roommates too (they shared a similar opinion of this to their friends), and the girls were all going to room together in a suite that had two single beds and a double.

"Dibs on the double!" Katie shouted as she took a dive onto it. She sighed contentedly when she felt herself sinking into the mattress.

The room itself consisted of a white carpeted floor with matching white walls. The bed Katie was rolling around on had a super soft mattress with white sheets, a blue comforter plus blue pillows to go with it. Ally walked over and sat down on one of the single beds. The best part about her chosen spot was that it was right next to the large window, giving her a perfect view of the garden – or more importantly, the pool.

"Jess look!" Ally exclaimed, "I am _so_ glad I brought a bikini, this is going to rock!"

"Did you bring something formal too?" Jess asked her friend.

"Obviously," Ally rolled her eyes, "Did you?"

"Are you seriously asking me the answer to that?"

"That's why I brought two." Ally laughed.

Reaching into her suitcase, Ally pulled out an article of clothing. To Jess' annoyance, it was a dress. Jess hated dresses. That's right, _hated. _ Dresses were too girly and too showy and too formal... which made a dress the perfect outfit of choice for dinner, much to her dismay.

The dress Ally had revealed was red halter-neck that seemed to go on forever. Jess presumed that when you were wearing it, it went to the floor. She had to admit, it was a beautiful dress but the just didn't like it. She sighed with relief as Ally held it up to her own body.

"This one's mine..." she began. She then delved back into her never-ending bag. "And this one's yours."

* * *

"Ah, boys, come in." A voice said as James knocked on the dining room door. The four boys entered hesitantly to see and old man standing at the far end of the room. He smiled warmly at the four boys. "My, we do look smart."

The boys had decked themselves out in James wardrobe as none of the other's had thought of bringing formal clothes. James, of course, only had these in case he went on a date with one or two or seven girls. James walked in first followed by Carlos then Logan and finally Kendall.

"Kendall, my boy," the old man said as he smiled at his grandson, "You look so much like your father."

"GRANDPA FRANCIS!" came a voice from behind them all. Katie came bursting into the room at a high speed to hug her grandfather, almost bowling him over in the process. The man hugged his granddaughter back lovingly.

Finally, after a long embrace, he pulled Katie away from him and smiled, "Katie Marie Knight, haven't you grown up?"

The young girl giggled under his gaze. She had clothed herself in a mint green dress that puffed out and ended just below her knees. She looked adorable and Kendall recognized it as the dress she wore for Christmas. She hated it but she wore it anyway, especially after their mom put so much money towards it.

"I think we're expecting two more guests, is that right Jeffrey?"

Jeffrey poked his head around the door, "Yes, two more sir."

Just at that moment, two figures appeared at the top of the staircase, one a vision in red and the other in a dark ocean blue. James gawked. Ally looked stunning, she had her flowing freely so that it cascaded down her back and she had small gold earrings in each ear. Her dress was a read halter-neck that flowed straight to the floor. Next to Ally was Jess. Jess was wearing a blue dress that also went to the floor. The dress had sleeves that were laced and floral. Her dress was a deep blue, like the night sky.

"Wow," Kendall and Logan both breathed at the same time.

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**I know that chapter was awful and I'm sorry. I really struggled to write that. Anyways, it was hard for me to describe Jess' dress so here's a link to one similar. It's the same idea but you just have to imagine it in dark blue (replace the word DOT with a period): wwwDOTonewedDOTcom/photos/show/sassi-holford-weddi ng-dress-2012-bridal-gowns-couture-lace-sleeves-me rmaid **

**Okay, so thank you for taking the time to read my awful story. In case you hadn't noticed, I have no idea what to do with this plot. And thank you to everyone who takes the time to review, it means an awful lot. **


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